Anatomical variation of posterior cerebral artery and vertebral artery in patients with posterior inferior cerebellar artery infarction ZHOU Qianpeng1） ，LUO Ni1） ，ZHANG Linlin1） ，BAI Chengping2） ，HU Huiying2） ，TIAN Ye2） ，SHI Yunke2） ，ZHENG Xining2） ， WANG Yumin2） 1）Graduate School，Qinghai University，Xining 810000，China； 2）Qinghai University Affiliated Hospital，Xining 810000，China Corresponding author：BAI Chengping 【Abstract】 Objective To explore the relationship between posterior inferior cerebellar artery （PICA） regional infarction，fetal posterior cerebral artery（FPCA）and vertebral artery hypoplasia（VAH）. Methods The patients underwent magnetic resonance imaging and head and neck CT angiography in our hospital from January 2020 to April 2022 and diagnosed with PICA regional infarction were collected as subjects. Head and neck CTAimages were processed by Philips workstation post-processing technology. According to the CTA images of the head and neck，the vascular pattern was divided into pattern Ⅰ（normal vertebral artery combined with normal posterior cerebral artery），pattern Ⅱ （simple FPCA group），pattern Ⅲ （simple VAH group） and pattern IV （FPCA combined with VAH）. The different vascular patterns were analyzed. Results In 105 patients with PICA regional infarction，there were 64 males （61%） and 41 females （39%），age 22-85 years old. The vascular variation rate was 81.9 %，in which the incidence of VAH structure was 64.8 %，and the incidence of FPCA structure was 53.3% . The results of vascular pattern distribution from high to low were model IV 35 cases （33.3%），model Ⅲ 33 cases（31.4%），model Ⅱ 21 cases（20.0%），and model Ⅰ 16 cases（15.3%）. The vascular patterns of infarction side and non-infarcted side in PICA region were also compared. In the infarction side of ICA region，the incidence of vascular variation was 68.6%，of which the incidence of VAH structure was 53.4% ，and the incidence of FPCA structure was 34.3% . In the non-infarction side of patients with PICA infarction，the vascular variation rate was 30.5%，in which the incidence of VAH structure was 13.3%，and the incidence of FPCA structure was 20.9%. There was a significant indigenous difference in the overall distribution （P＜0.001）. Conclusion PICA regional infarction is more common in patients with VAH，and prone to occur in the same side of VAH，when being combined with FPCA structure may increase the risk of PICA regional infarction. Early recognition and stroke prevention should be considered critically in clinical practice. 【Key words】 Cerebral infarction；Posterior inferior cerebellar artery；Vertebral artery hypoplasia；Fetal posterior cerebral artery；Stroke
