Internal carotid artery bulb width: a novel potential parameter for the prediction of cerebral vascular diseases

To investigate the relationship between the width of the internal carotid artery (ICA) bulb and cerebral vascular diseases including stroke and intracranial aneurysms. In total 300 patients who had supra-aortic computed tomography angiography (CTA) were enrolled in this study from 2015 to 2021. The study groups consisted of 100 ischemic stroke patients, 100 patients with intracranial aneurysms, and 100 control subjects. The intracranial aneurysm patient group was divided into two subgroups according to the presence of subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). The largest diameters of the ICA C1 (cervical) and C2 (petrous) segments in all individuals were measured bilaterally on CTA images. The ICA diameter ratios of the cases were measured using the formula C1-C2C1. The relationship between the age and ICA vessel analysis was evaluated as well. The mean ICA bulb width values in the ischemic stroke patient group and the intracranial aneurysm patient group were significantly higher than the control group (p