Role of magnetic susceptibility-weighted imaging in characterization of cerebral microbleeds in acute ischemic stroke Egyptian obese patients

Abstract

Objective: The study was done to investigate the role of susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) in characterization of cerebral microbleeds (CMBs) and incidence of CMBs in acute ischemic stroke obese patients. Materials and methods: We recruited 120 acute ischemic stroke obese patients. All participants or their relatives gave written informed consent. MRI of the brain with SWI sequences was done for all patients. Results: SWI showed 30% of the patients have CMBs. The total numbers of CMBs were statistically significant higher in small vessel diseases (SVDs) than large vessel diseases (LVDs) (P = 0.008). According to the severity scale, CMBs were more prominent in patients with grade 0 (70%) followed by grade III (25.8%) then grade II (4.2%). BMI was independent risk factors for developing CMBs as shown in simple regression analysis (х2 = 6.008, P = 0.002). SVDs and hypertension were statistically significant independent predictors and had higher odds to exhibit CMBs. Patients with SVDs had 5.3 times higher odds to exhibit CMBs (P = 0.002) while patients with hypertension had 3.9 times higher odds to exhibit CMBs (P = 0.032). Conclusion: SWI is a gold standard MR imaging technique in diagnosis and characterization of CMBs with more prevalence especially in obese patients suffering from acute ischemia stroke due to SVDs. Hypertension was an independent risk factor for development of CMBs but IHD, use of antiplatelet medications, increased BMI, and dyslipidemia must be taken into consideration.