Objective To evaluate the correlation of oxygen saturation of retinal vessels and diabetic retinopathy (DR) stages or HbA1c level in patients with DR. Methods Cross sectional study. A total of 102 patients (102 eyes) with DR and 20 age-matched healthy controls (20 eyes) (normal control group) were enrolled in this study. DR patients were divided into mild and moderate non-proliferative DR (NPDR) group (55 patients), severe NPDR group (26 patients) and proliferative DR (PDR) group (21 patients). DR patients were also divided into 3 groups according to the HbA1c level including HbA1c>9%(8 patients), HbA1c 7%–9%(33 patients) and HbA1c<7% group (61 patients). The oxygen saturation of retinal vessel was measured by spectrophotometric oximetry unit in the retinal vessels with a diameter greater than 60μm in the area around the optic disc. Results The retinal artery oxygen saturation of patients in severe NPDR group was significantly higher than that in mild to moderate NPDR group and normal control group (F=13.670, P<0.05). The retinal vein oxygen saturation of patients in PDR group was significantly higher than that in mild to moderate NPDR group and normal control group (F=6.379, P<0.05). The difference between retinal artery and vein oxygen saturation of patients in severe NPDR group was significantly bigger than that in mild to moderate NPDR group and PDR group (F=5.536, P<0.05). The retinal artery and vein oxygen saturation in patients of HbA1c>9%group were significantly higher than that in HbA1c 7%–9%group and HbA1c<7%group (F=9.989, 10.208;P<0.05). The differences between retinal artery and vein oxygen saturation were same between patients in HbA1c>9%, HbA1c 7%<9%and HbA1c<7%group (F=1.836, P>0.05). Conclusions The retinal artery and vein oxygen saturation in DR patients are related to the DR stages. Severe NPDR patients show the highest retinal artery oxygen saturation as well as biggest difference between retinal artery and vein oxygen saturation. There is also a trend that retinal vein oxygen saturation increases with higher DR stages. In addition, there is a positive correlation between the levels of HbA1c and retinal vessel oxygen saturation.

With the development of imaging technology, high-resolution magnetic resonance vascular wall imaging technology has been gradually applied to the risk assessment of intracranial aneurysms rupture. It has provided more comprehensive information for clinicians to assess the stability of intracranial aneurysms. This article summarizes the indicators used for assessing the risk of intracranial aneurysms rupture in recent years with high-resolution magnetic resonance vascular wall imaging.

Atherosclerotic plaque is an important cause of ischemic stroke. High-resolution vessel wall magnetic resonance imaging (VW-MRI) has been widely used in the study of intracranial atherosclerotic plaques, which is of great value for the display of plaque distribution. This article reviews the distribution of intracranial atherosclerotic plaques based on VW-MRI.

Objective:To explore the value of enhancement rate of aneurysm wall by high-resolution magnetic resonance vessel wall imaging (HR-VWI) in assessing the risk of intracranial aneurysm rupture.Methods:Seventy patients with 80 intracranial aneurysms, admitted to our hospital from January 2016 to December 2019, were chosen in our study; morphological parameters (shape, neck width, height, diameter) of the intracranial aneurysms, and signal intensity and enhancement rate of aneurysm wall were collected from HR-VWI. These patients were divided into a high-risk rupture group (PHASES scores>3) and a low-risk rupture group (PHASES scores≤3) according to PHASES scores. Univariate analysis was used to compare the differences of clinical data (age, gender, blood pressure, blood lipids, and smoking history) and aneurysm imaging data between the two groups of patients. Multivariable Logistic regression was used to determine the independent influencing factors for aneurysm rupture, and receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve of enhancement rate of aneurysm wall in predicting aneurysm rupture was drew to determine the best diagnostic value.Results:Univariate analysis showed that the percentages of patients with hypertension, multiple aneurysms and irregular aneurysm morphology, aneurysm height, aneurysm diameter and aneurysm wall enhancement rate were significantly different between the high-risk rupture group and low-risk rupture group ( P<0.05). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that aneurysm diameter ( OR=1.647, 95%CI: 1.177-2.306, P=0.004) and aneurysm wall enhancement rate ( OR=5.317, 95%CI: 1.527-18.512, P=0.009) were independent influencing factors for rupture of intracranial aneurysms. The area of ROC curve was 0.735, the optimal cut-off value was 0.583; the sensitivity of predicting rupture of intracranial aneurysms was 72.7% and the specificity was 70.2%. Conclusion:The aneurysm wall enhancement rate is significantly correlated with risk of aneurysm rupture; when the PHASES scores>3 and aneurysm wall enhancement rate>58.3%, clinical intervention should be vigilant.

Objective:To investigate the high resolution vessel wall imaging (HR-VWI) features of basilar artery (BA) in patients with acute isolated pontine infarction (AIPI) of different infarct types, and explore the pathogenesis of AIPI.Methods:A retrospective analysis of clinical and imaging data of 52 patients with AIPI admitted to our hospital from June 2016 to November 2019 was performed. According to the morphology and location distribution of pontine high-signal lesions in diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), these patients were divided into paramedian pontine infarction (PPI) group and small deep pontine infarction (SDPI) group. The general clinical data, modified National Institute of Health stroke scale (mNIHSS) scores at admission and discharge, modified Rankin scale (mRS) scores, and incidence of basilar artery plaques and plaque characteristics of basal artery in HR-VWI of patients from the two groups were compared.Results:Among the 52 AIPI patients, there were 28 patients with PPI (54%) and 24 with SDPI (46%). The mNIHSS scores at admission and discharge in the PPI group were significantly higher than those in the SDPI group ( P<0.05). The incidence of basilar artery plaques in PPI group was significantly higher than that in SDPI group (92.9% vs. 62.5%, P<0.05). As compared with SDPI group, PPI group had a significantly higher incidence of right lateral wall plaques, a statistically lower incidence of ventral wall plaques, and a significantly higher incidence of centripetal plaques, and significantly increased maximum thickness of vessel wall ( P<0.05). Conclusion:The AIPI mechanism is generally related to the branch atheromatous disease of basilar artery; PPI patients have more severe clinical symptoms, more serious clogged perforation opening of the basilar artery plaque, more unstable basilar artery plaque than the SDPI group.

The geometric morphology of intracranial arteries has unique characteristics and laws. Congenital variation is also often seen in clinical work. Both have certain clinical significance in the occurrence and development of cerebrovascular diseases, as well as in anatomy and function. This article summarizes some of the findings on the morphology and variation of intracranial arteries in cerebrovascular disease research in recent years, and reviews the imaging techniques of intracranial arteries as well as the clinical significance of geometric morphology and congenital variation.

Objective　To investigate the characteristics of high resolution vessel wall imaging (HR-VWI) imaging of unstable plaques in acute pontine infarction.Methods　Data from thirty-nine patients with symptomatic acute pontine infarction and 45 patients with asymptomatic pontine infarction in the Peopl’s Hospital of Baoan District,Shenzhen from June 2016 to November 2019 was retrospectively analyzed.The distribution of BA plaques and plaque involvement were counted on HR-VWI Quadrant.Plaque surface continuity,plaque length,vascular volume (Vouter),vascular wall volume (V wall),lumen diameter in the narrowest layer of the lumen (LD MLN),maximum diameter of the outer lumen (OD MLN ),vascular area (OA MLN),vascular wall area (WA MLN),the thickest thickness (WTmax),the plaque load (PB),and lumen stenosis rate were measured.Measurement indicators were compared between the two groups.Results　The plaque distribution,plaque discontinuity,WTmax,WA MLN,PB,and BA lumen stenosis rates between the two groups were statistically different (P<0.05).Conclusions　BA plaques with symptomatic pontine infarction are more likely to be distributed on the side wall,the surface is more discontinuous,thicker plaque thickness,larger blood vessel area and plaque load,higher luminal stenosis rate,suggesting that it has instability Plaque characteristics.