22. European Stroke Conference 812 © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel Scientific Programme 881 Intracerebral/subarachnoid haemorrhage and venous diseases Arterial stiffness of the internal carotid artery does not distinguish patients with stable unrup-tured aneurysms from normal controls F. PERREN1, Ph. Reymond2, E. Fonck3, D. Rüfenacht4, N. Stergiopulos5 HUG, Dept. Clinical Neurosciences, Neurology, Geneva, SWITZERLAND1, EPFL, Swiss Technical Institute, Laboratory of hemodynamics and cardiovascular technology, Lausanne, SWIT-ZERLAND2, EPFL, Swiss Technical Institute, Laboratory of hemodynamics and cardiovascu-lar technology, Lausanne, SWITZERLAND3, Hirslanden Klinik, Neuroradiology Center, Zurich, SWITZERLAND4, EPFL, Swiss Technical Institute, Laboratory of hemodynamics and cardiovascu-lar technology, Lausanne, SWITZERLAND5 INTRODUCTION Today it is still impossible to image the aneurismal wall itself in vivo and to per-form proper analysis of stress field within. This limits the assessment of the potential risk of rupture, which remains subjective and mainly based on the location, geometry, patient’s age, health, family medical history, and size of the aneurysm. Since an underlying arteriopathy might contribute to the development and rupture of intracranial aneurysms, a rapid non‐invasive inexpensive tool for the in vivo assessment of the biomechanical properties of the arterial wall and the changes associated with the risk of rupture is needed. METHODS Patients diagnosed (CTA/MRA,DSA) with unruptured (stable for >/= 6 months) intracranial aneurysms of the anterior circulation and their healthy (MRI/ MRA, clinical data) matched controls have been compared. Noninvasive high‐resolution ultrasound echo tracking system (Aloka) and blood pressure measurements have been used to assess the elas-tic properties of proximal conduit arteries. Patients and controls suffering from cardiovascular risk factors or disease, or carotid vessel wall pathology have been excluded. RESULTS 18 subjects (9 patients and their controls; 12 women; mean age 54 years) were studied. Elastic properties were as-sessed in the proximal internal carotids. We compared the elastic modulus, stiffness parameter and arterial compliance computed with the ultrasound echo tracking system and found no significant difference (p= 0.24, 0.49 and 0.41 respectively). CONCLUSION The aim of the present study was to show whether arterial stiffness of extracranial cerebral arteries could predict the development of intracranial aneurysms. We could not find significant differences in three arterial stiffness parameters between subjects with stable unruptured aneurysms and controls. Contrarily to a study which found increased arterial stiffness parameters in patients with ruptured aneurysms this seem not to be the case with patients with stable unruptured aneurysms.
Karger_ESC London_2013
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