Two studies found that
stroke patients with intracranial arterial dolichoectasia (IADE) had
lacunar infarction more often than the control subjects. The relation between IADE and other manifestations of small-vessel disease (multilacunar state,
leukoaraiosis, and état criblé) was not investigated. The magnetic resonance images of 510 patients with
brain infarction in the Etude du
Profil Genetique de l'Infarctus Cerebral (GENIC) study were evaluated for the diagnosis of multilacunar
infarction (>1
lacunar infarct),
leukoaraiosis (assessed in periventricular and subcortical regions according to Scheltens and colleagues' scale, with severe
leukoaraiosis defined as a score > 8), état criblé (using a semiquantitative score ranging from 0-8, with severe EC > 4), and IADE (using the consensus method). By comparison with
stroke patients without IADE (n = 447), IADE(+)
stroke patients (n = 63) had significantly more frequent multilacunar state (51 vs 33%), severe
leukoaraiosis (34 vs 19%), and severe état criblé (32 vs 12%). After adjustment for potential confounding factors, the odds ratios (95% confidence interval) for the presence of IADE were 2.05 (1.08-3.87) for multilacunar state, 2.40 (1.11-5.20) for severe
leukoaraiosis, and 3.60 (1.43-9.08) for severe état criblé. The factors significantly associated with état criblé were older age and a familial history of
stroke. IADE in
stroke patients was independently associated with parenchymal manifestations of small-vessel disease. These conditions may have in common underlying pathophysiological processes.