The Course of Unilateral Intracranial Arteriopathy in Young Adults With Arterial Ischemic Stroke

Background and Purpose—Unilateral intracranial focal nonprogressive arteriopathy is often found in children with arterial ischemic stroke. We aimed to investigate the course of unilateral intracranial arteriopathy in young adults. Methods—We searched the Utrecht Stroke Database for patients between 16 and 50 years of age diagnosed with anterior circulation arterial ischemic stroke and a nonatherosclerotic, unilateral intracranial large-artery arteriopathy between 1991 and 2005. We assessed clinical features, potential causes, risk factors, extent of infarction and arteriopathy at presentation, long-term angiographic course, and clinical outcome. Results—Of 356 patients with anterior circulation arterial ischemic stroke, 17 (5%) had a documented unilateral intracranial arteriopathy, of whom 14 could be included for follow-up investigations (median age, 34 years; range, 27–49 years). Median duration of follow-up was 8.8 years (range, 1.7–12.8 years). In 11 patients, onset of symptoms was not abrupt. The art...