Imaging of cerebrovascular complications of infection

The clinical manifestations of cerebrovascular complications of infections may overlap with non-infectious vascular diseases, and may be difficult to diagnose only by clinical manifestations. Cerebrovascular complications are not uncommon in clinical practice. Cerebrovascular involvement is the most severe extra-cardiac complication of infective endocarditis (IE), with up to 20–55% of patients with left-sided IE developing ischemic or hemorrhagic lesions (1). IE is thus associated with high mortality and morbidity (2). Up to 66% of patients with pediatric tuberculous meningitis can be complicated by cerebral infarction (3). Meningovascular syphilitic infection is present in 15–23% of patients with neurosyphilis (4). In contrast, the cerebrovascular complications of central nervous system (CNS) infection such as cerebral ischemia and mycotic aneurysms may appear insignificant or asymptomatic in the early stages. Some of the clinical manifestations of these complications are non-specific, including headache, convulsion, septicemia, cerebral hemorrhage, cerebral infarction, etc. However, some complications are very serious, especially in the case of mycotic aneurysms, which may develop rapidly (5). Imaging examination can detect these vascular complications, guide the clinical treatment of such complications, and evaluate the efficacy the treatment