TY - JOUR
T1 - Investigation of circle of Willis variants and hemodynamic parameters in twins using transcranial color-coded Doppler sonography
AU - Forgó, Bianka
AU - Tárnoki, Ádám Domonkos
AU - Tárnoki, Dávid László
AU - Littvay, Levente
AU - Fagnani, Corrado
AU - Stazi, Maria Antonietta
AU - Meneghetti, Giorgio
AU - Medda, Emanuela
AU - Farina, Filippo
AU - Baracchini, Claudio
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - Morphological and hemodynamic variations of the circle of Willis (CW) may have an important impact on cerebrovascular events. However, the environmental and genetic influence remains unclear. For this reason we studied the variations and hemodynamic parameters of the CW in twins using transcranial color-coded sonography (TCCS). Sixty-four twins, 19 monozygotic (MZ) and 13 dizygotic (DZ) pairs from the Italian Twin Registry (average age 45.0 ± 13.7 years) underwent TCCS and risk factor assessment. We examined CW morphology and recorded peak systolic velocity (PSV), end-diastolic velocity (EDV) and pulsatility index (PI). Raw heritability was determined for hemodynamic parameters, whereas concordance and discordance rates were calculated for CW morphological variants. A normal CW anatomy was observed in the majority of MZ and DZ twins (76.5% and 92.3%, respectively). The most frequent variant was a missing anterior cerebral artery (ACA). There was no significant difference in the prevalence of most CW variants depending on the zigosity. Concordance rates were low regarding the presence of variant CW anatomy both in MZ and DZ groups (0.14 and 0.00, respectively). Women had a significantly higher PI in vertebral arteries (VA) and in the right ACA (p = 0.01, p = 0.02 and p < 0.01, respectively). An inverse correlation was observed between hemodynamic parameters and age. Morphological variants of the CW do not seem to be heritable; they are most likely determined by environmental factors. In contrast, hemodynamic parameters of the CW are moderately heritable and this might have implications in the management and prevention of cerebrovascular diseases.
AB - Morphological and hemodynamic variations of the circle of Willis (CW) may have an important impact on cerebrovascular events. However, the environmental and genetic influence remains unclear. For this reason we studied the variations and hemodynamic parameters of the CW in twins using transcranial color-coded sonography (TCCS). Sixty-four twins, 19 monozygotic (MZ) and 13 dizygotic (DZ) pairs from the Italian Twin Registry (average age 45.0 ± 13.7 years) underwent TCCS and risk factor assessment. We examined CW morphology and recorded peak systolic velocity (PSV), end-diastolic velocity (EDV) and pulsatility index (PI). Raw heritability was determined for hemodynamic parameters, whereas concordance and discordance rates were calculated for CW morphological variants. A normal CW anatomy was observed in the majority of MZ and DZ twins (76.5% and 92.3%, respectively). The most frequent variant was a missing anterior cerebral artery (ACA). There was no significant difference in the prevalence of most CW variants depending on the zigosity. Concordance rates were low regarding the presence of variant CW anatomy both in MZ and DZ groups (0.14 and 0.00, respectively). Women had a significantly higher PI in vertebral arteries (VA) and in the right ACA (p = 0.01, p = 0.02 and p < 0.01, respectively). An inverse correlation was observed between hemodynamic parameters and age. Morphological variants of the CW do not seem to be heritable; they are most likely determined by environmental factors. In contrast, hemodynamic parameters of the CW are moderately heritable and this might have implications in the management and prevention of cerebrovascular diseases.
KW - Anatomy
KW - Cerebrovascular
KW - Circle of Willis
KW - Transcranial color-coded Doppler sonography
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85045755024&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10554-018-1359-4
DO - 10.1007/s10554-018-1359-4
M3 - Article
C2 - 29675634
AN - SCOPUS:85045755024
SN - 1569-5794
VL - 34
SP - 1419
EP - 1427
JO - International Journal of Cardiovascular Imaging
JF - International Journal of Cardiovascular Imaging
IS - 9
ER -