Objectives: to study clinical characteristics of symptomatic carotid intracranial atherosclerosis and to compare clinical and radiologic characteristics of atherosclerotic middle cerebral artery (MCA) and internal carotid artery (lCA) disease. Methods: 81 cerebral infarct patients without cardioembolic. Atherosclerosis was defined as or = 50 percent symptomatic stenosis significant ICA and MCA stenosis on MR angiography 3.0 Tesla. Results: Atherosclerosis was 74.07 percent (patient with ICAS was 56.8 percent, patients with ECAS was 11.11 percent and patient had both ICAS and ECAS was 6.17 percent) ICA atherosclerosis was 31.66 percent, MCA atherosclerosis was 50.0 percent and ACA atherosclerosis was 3.3 percent. Mild moderate of stenosis 10.86 percent, severity of stenosis 50.0 percent, occlusion 39.13 percent. Conclusion: Initial NIHSS of patients with ICAS was higher than initial NIHSS of patients without ICAS. Lacuna was feature of patient without ICAS and total anterior circulation infarct was feature of patients with ICAS. Subcortical infarction was feature of patients with MCA atherosclerosis, total anterior circulation infarct was feature of patients with ICA atherosclerosis.