Age-Related Association Between Circulating Inflammatory Indicators and Plaque Enhancement on High-Resolution Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Patients with Intracranial Atherosclerotic Stenosis

Xiaotong Ma; Wenjuan Wang; Yumeng Yang; Jiao Li; Chenhuai Wang; Qinjian Sun; Zhangyong Xia

doi:10.2147/JIR.S485221

Age-Related Association Between Circulating Inflammatory Indicators and Plaque Enhancement on High-Resolution Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Patients with Intracranial Atherosclerotic Stenosis

J Inflamm Res. 2024 Dec 18:17:11211-11220. doi: 10.2147/JIR.S485221. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Xiaotong Ma^{1

2}, Wenjuan Wang², Yumeng Yang¹, Jiao Li², Chenhuai Wang², Qinjian Sun², Zhangyong Xia^{3

4

5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurology, Shandong Provincial Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, 250012, People's Republic of China.
² Department of Neurology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, Shandong, 250012, People's Republic of China.
³ Department of Neurology, Liaocheng People's Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, 250012, People's Republic of China.
⁴ Department of Neurology, the Second People's Hospital of Liaocheng, Liaocheng, Shandong, 252000, People's Republic of China.
⁵ Department of Neurology, Liaocheng People's Hospital, Liaocheng, Shandong, 252000, People's Republic of China.
⁶ State Key Laboratory of Dampness Syndrome of Chinese Medicine, Shandong Sub-Centre, Liaocheng, Shandong, 252000, People's Republic of China.

Abstract

Background: Plaque enhancement is a non-specific marker of local inflammatory response, which may offer additional insights together with circulating inflammatory markers. Few studies have analyzed the association between intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis (ICAS) plaque enhancement and circulating inflammatory markers. Given the age-related variability in the progression of ICAS, this study aims to explore the association between the two across different age groups.

Methods: This retrospective study recruited 120 patients with ICAS-related ischemic events who had undergone high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging. Plaque enhancement index at the most stenosed site of the culprit vessel was calculated. Levels of circulating inflammatory indicators, including high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), lymphocyte-to-white blood cell ratio (LWR), systemic immune inflammation index (SII), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR), and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), were detected. General linear regression models were established to analyze the association between ICAS plaque enhancement index and circulating inflammatory indicators.

Results: In this study, hsCRP, but not other circulating inflammatory indicators, had a significant positive association with ICAS plaque enhancement index (β=0.219, 95% CI [0.036, 0.349], P=0.02). After multivariate adjustment, there was still a marginal correlation between hsCRP and the enhancement index (β=0.220, 95% CI [0.025, 0.362], P=0.05). The association was particularly significant in patients <60 years rather than those ≥60 years. For participants <60 years, hsCRP had the highest contribution to plaque enhancement interpretation.

Conclusion: ICAS plaque enhancement index was positively associated with hsCRP, particularly in participants aged <60 years. This may be helpful for understanding the significance of the enhancement index in clinical practice.

Keywords: circulating inflammatory indicators; high-sensitivity C-reactive protein; intracranial atherosclerosis; plaque enhancement index.

Grants and funding

This study was supported by grants from the Department of Science and Technology of Shandong Province [ZR2020QH109 and ZR2022LSW010] and National Natural Science Foundation of China [82201477]. The funding agency had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, writing of this article, or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.