Abstract: Objective To investigate the correlation between leukoencephalopathy and atherosclerosis. Methods 238 patients were enrolled. All the patients were underwent brain MRI and carotid and femoral artery duplex ultrasonography after hospitalized. The atherosclerotic plaque, intima-media thickness (IMT), peak systolic velocity (Vp) were measured with ultrasonography. The data was analyzed with SPSS 13.0 software. Results The leukoencephalopathy of the patients positively correlated with age, hypertension, serious of atherosclerosis and carotid IMT, negatively correlated with carotid Vp, but did not correlated with vertebrarterial Vp. Conclusion The leukoencephalopathy positively correlate with some atherosclerotic risk factors, the serious of atherosclerosis, and anterior circulation disorder, but do not correlate with posterior circulation.

Key words: leukoencephalopathy, atherosclerosis, correlation