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RMJ. 2024; 49(4): 855-858 Radiological imaging of anatomical variations of arteries of circle of willis using magnetic resonance angiography in subset of Pakistani populationAisha Hassan Brohi, Uzma Hameed, Sadia Iqbal, Aisha Abdul Haq, Amna Mughal, Nuzhat Hassan. Abstract | | | | Objective: To determine the different morphological pattern along with diameter of arterial vessels in the Circle of Willis (CoW) and to find the most common anatomical variation in local population.
Methodology: This observational cross-sectional study was conducted at the Radiology Department, Ziauddin University. It included 300 patients referred for MR imaging of brain without any manifestation of cerebrovascular diseases. Patients who were claustrophobic or had a history of atherosclerosis, vasculitis, thrombus, aneurysm, arteriovenous malformation, intracranial tumour, diabetes and hypertension were excluded. We used non-probability sampling technique. Three-dimensional Time of Flight (TOF) Magnetic Resonance Angiography (MRA) was performed on all patients.
Results: We found that 52% of subjects had incomplete CoW with variation either in anterior or posterior part and 38.33% (115) showed variations in posterior part being more common as compared to anterior part. The most common variation found in anterior part was “Absent Anterior Communicating Artery” (AcomA). The most common variation found in posterior part was “Unilateral hypoplastic Posterior Communicating Artery” (Hypoplastic PComA). There were statistically significant differences in some vessel’s diameters according to age. The diameters of internal carotid and basilar artery increased with age.
Conclusion: The study concludes that variations were observed mostly in the posterior part of CoW. Unilateral Hypoplastic PComA was the most frequent type of variation seen.
Key words: Magnetic resonance angiography, circle of Willis, cerebrovascular disorders.
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