Association of Ultrasonography and MRI Findings with Stroke Recurrence: Differences Between Patients with Past Histories of Atherothrombotic Versus Lacunar Infarctions.

Objective: This study investigated the association of MRI and ultrasonography findings with stroke recurrence in patients with past histories of atherothrombotic infarctions (ATIs) or lacunar infarctions (LIs).

Methods: We prospectively analyzed the incidence of stroke recurrence. Deep and lobar cerebral microbleeds (MBs), asymptomatic lacunae, asymptomatic intracerebral hemorrhages (ICHs), severe white matter lesions (WML), and intima-media thickness (IMT) were investigated on enrollment. Stroke recurrence rates were compared by using the log-rank test. The odds ratios for recurrent strokes were derived using multivariate logistic regression models, adjusted for risk factors.

Results: We evaluated the stroke recurrence rate in 362 ATI patients and 309 LI patients. The log-rank test and multivariate analyses revealed that the incidence of recurrent stroke was significantly higher in ATI patients with mean IMT greater than or equal to 1.1 mm, asymptomatic ICHs, or lobar MBs than in those without. The incidence was significantly higher in LI patients with asymptomatic ICHs, asymptomatic LIs, and severe WMLs than in those without. In ATI patients, those with strictly lobar MBs or mixed MBs (deep and lobar MBs) had significantly higher recurrence rates than those without MB. In LI patients, those with strictly deep MBs or mixed MBs had higher recurrence rates than those without MB, and the incidences of those with mixed MBs was larger than those with strictly deep MBs.

Conclusions: There were differences between ATI and LI patients in terms of the association of MRI and ultrasonography findings, in particularly strictly lobar or deep MBs, with the incidence of stroke recurrence.