Objective: The cause of abnormal Virchow-Robin space (VRS) dilatation is still unclear. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that chronic ischemia from the unilateral significant internal carotid artery (ICA) stenosis is related to asymmetric VRS dilatation.
Methods: We recruited 78 patients with severe unilateral ICA stenosis (>70%) diagnosed by magnetic resonance angiography, computed tomography angiography, or digital subtraction angiography and retrospectively reviewed 3-T brain magnetic resonance images. All VRSs on bilateral cerebral high-convexity areas were scaled into 4 grades. We analyzed the difference of VRS grades between bilateral hemispheres and the correlation between VRS grade and severity of ICA stenosis and the patient's age.
Results: The VRS grades on the ipsilateral hemisphere were higher than those on the contralateral and were positively correlated with the degree of ICA stenosis. The bilateral VRS grades and the patients' ages were positively correlated.
Conclusions: Our results suggest that severe ICA steno-occlusive disease would be related with abnormal VRS dilatation.