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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Neurol.
Sec. Applied Neuroimaging
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2025.1532883
This article is part of the Research Topic Applied Neuroimaging for the Diagnosis and Prognosis of Cerebrovascular Disease View all 3 articles

Character of Extracranial Carotid Plaque Calcification and Its Association with Risk Factors of Cerebrovascular Events: Insights from the ANTIQUE Study

Provisionally accepted
David Pakizer David Pakizer Dana Šalounová Dana Šalounová David Školoudík David Školoudík *
  • Centre for Health Research, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ostrava, Ostrava, Czechia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: Extracranial carotid calcification is a common marker of advanced atherosclerosis but its impact on stroke risk is not uniform in studies and looking at calcification type and systemic diseases might be useful. We aimed to investigate extracranial carotid calcification and risk factors for ischemic cerebrovascular diseases.: Of 1,863 consecutive ANTIQUE study patients, 132 symptomatic or asymptomatic patients (177 carotid plaques) with >30% carotid stenosis examined by computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were included. Data were assessed by statistical tests (χ 2 -test, Fisher's, t-test, Mann-Whitney) to investigate calcification risk factors.Results: Compared to the absence of calcifications, spotty calcifications were associated with male gender (odds ratio [OR] 3.72, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.06-13.05), while large calcifications with older patients (OR 1.60 per 5 years of age, 95% CI 1.20-2.13). Large calcifications were also strongly associated with coronary heart disease (OR 4.07, 95% CI 1.15-14.44) and atrial fibrillation (p=0.025OR 1.21, 95% CI 1.11-1.31). Compared only spotty calcifications and large calcifications mutually, spotty calcifications were associated with male gender (OR 3.72, 95% CI 1.06-13.05), smoking (p=0.020) in greater quantities (p=0.014), and lipid plaque (p<0.001), while large calcifications with contralateral stenosis degree (p=0.044). No significant relation was found between cerebrovascular events and calcification type.The presence and type of extracranial carotid calcification were not related to ipsilateral ischemic events. However, large calcifications were strongly associated with coronary heart disease and atrial fibrillation.

    Keywords: Atherosclerosis, carotid artery disease, calcification, cerebrovascular 44 disease, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, computed tomography

    Received: 22 Nov 2024; Accepted: 03 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Pakizer, Šalounová and Školoudík. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: David Školoudík, Centre for Health Research, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ostrava, Ostrava, Czechia

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