Calcification of the intracranial arteries associated with primary atherosclerosis is more frequent in elderly people.
The prevalence of intracranial artery calcification are:
- internal carotid artery: ~60%
- vertebral artery ~20%
- middle cerebral artery ~5%
- basilar artery ~5%
Other causes of vascular intracranial calcifications include:
- aneurysm: although patent aneurysms may contain mural calcification, partially or completely thrombosed aneurysms commonly have calcification
- arteriovenous malformation (AVM): may contain dystrophic calcification along the serpentine vessels and within the adjacent parenchyma with a prevalence of 25-30%
- cavernous malformation: is a benign vascular hamartoma that is frequently calcified in a ’’popcorn-ball’’ shape
- calcified cerebral emboli: rare cause of embolic ischemic stroke that may carry a different prognosis to that of stroke caused by other types of emboli
See also
- other causes of multiple intracranial calcifications and
- normal intracranial calcifications.
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