Abstract:〔Abstract〕 Objective To investigate the relationship between high resolution vessel wall imaging (HR-VWI) features and ischemic stroke in patients with middle cerebral artery (MCA) atherosclerosis. Methods Patients with ischemic stroke admitted to the Department of Neurology of Shenzhen Longhua District People's Hospital from January 2020 to January 2022 were retrospectively included. Conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the head and HR-VWI at the narrowest point of MCA were performed. The vascular and plaque characteristics of MCA stenosis were compared between acute ischemic stroke group and non-acute ischemic stroke group. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine the independent risk factors for acute ischemic stroke, and receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve was used to determine the predictive value of vascular wall characteristics for acute stroke. Results A total of 59 ischemic cerebrovascular patients with MCA stenosis were included. The patients were (52.13 ± 12.25) years old, and 47 (79.7 %) were males. There were 44 cases (74.6 %) in the acute ischemic stroke group and 15 cases (25.4 %) in the non-acute ischemic stroke group. There was no significant difference in demographic data and vascular risk factors between the two groups (P > 0.05). Compared with the non-acute ischemic stroke group, there were more enhanced plaques in the acute ischemic stroke group (81.8 % vs. 53.3 %), and plaques in the ventral wall (35.6 %) and inferior wall (27.1 %) were the most common in the two groups. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed significant plaque enhancement [OR = 6.000,95 % CI (1.116,32.246), P<0.05] and severity of luminal stenosis [OR = 17.417, 95 % CI (1.987, 152.675), P<0.001]was an independent risk factor for acute ischemic stroke. ROC curve analysis showed that the combination of plaque enhancement degree and luminal stenosis degree had the best predictive efficacy [area under curve 0.851, 95 % CI (0.711, 0.962)]. Conclusion Acute ischemic stroke is most likely to occur when there is significant plaque enhancement at the narrowest MCA and severe lumen stenosis.