A retrospective study of branch atheromatous disease: Analyses of risk factors and prognosis.

The theory of branch atheromatous disease (BAD) has been commonly underused in clinical practice and research since it was proposed in 1989. In this study, we sought to explore clinical characteristics of its substypes and biomarkers for prognosis of BAD. A total of 176 consecutive patients with BAD were classified into two groups: paramedianpontine artery group (PPA group, n=70) and lenticulostriate artery group (LSA group, n=106). Bivariate analyses were used to explore the relationship between white matter hyperintensities (WMHs), National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores and prognosis evaluated by the modified Rank Scale (mRS) at 6th month after stroke. The differences in prevalence of diabetes mellitus and a history of ischemic heart disease were statistically significant between PPA group and LSA group (χ 2=8.255, P=0.004; χ 2=13.402, P<0.001). The bivariate analyses demonstrated a positive correlation between NIHSS and poor prognosis in patients with BAD and in the two subtype groups, and a positive correlation between WMHs and poor prognosis in the PPA group. It is concluded that a significantly higher prevalence of diabetes mellitus and a history of ischemic heart disease exist in the PPA group than in the LSA group. In addition, high grades of NIHSS scores imply poor prognosis in patients with BAD and in the two subtype groups. Moreover, WMHs are a positive predictor for poor prognosis in patients in the PPA group.