Recovery of cerebrovascular reactivity after asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis treatment is assessable by Breathhold-fMRI within global watershed areas

Asymptomatic unilateral internal carotid-artery stenosis (ICAS) causes complex and currently poorly understood hemodynamic impairments which could possibly improve treatment decisions. Cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) is an important biomarker of vascular health and can potentially serve to evaluate ICAS-treatment efficacy. We present perfusion MRI-data from a longitudinal study in 16 asymptomatic ICAS-patients before and after treatment plus 17 age-matched healthy controls. We hypothesize that CVR impairments in ICAS and their recovery after treatment can be assessed by Breathhold-fMRI analyzed by a data-driven approach. Our results demonstrate statistically significant CVR impairments within global watershed areas before treatment and significant CVR recovery after treatment.