Background: the presence of CMBs has been considered to be an early imaging marker of bleeding-prone angiopathy, and thereby as a predictor of the development of symptomatic stroke, especially intracerebral hemorrhage, and dementia in the elderly.
Aim Of The Study: The main goal of this study was to investigate the prevalence and risk factors associated with cerebral miocrobleeds (CMB) in acute ischemic stroke by using T2* weighted imaging study.
Patients and methods: this Prospective Cohort Study was conducted during a period of 6 months . Totally 150 cases were included in this study at inpatient departments and outpatient clinics of Al-Azhar neurology departments at Al-Azhar University Hospitals. with clinically, radiologically and lab diagnosed as acute ischemic stroke. MRI brain T2* was used to asses presence or absence of cerebral microbleeds.
Results: The prevalence of cerebral microbleeds was 21.3%% .no statistically significant differences were found between negative-CMB and positive CMB as regard each of being smoker, hypertensive, diabetic, having atrial fibrillation, ischemic heart disease or hyperlipidemia. The present results revealed that there was a statistically significant increase in antiplatelet medication among patients with positive CMB in comparison with negative CMB.
Conclusion:The prevalence of cerebral microbleeds was 21.3%% in the elderly population of patients suffering from ischemic stroke. Antiplatelet medications emerged as the most important associated risk factors for the presence of CMBs.