Abstract
We conducted a clinical study of 155 cases that were confirmed to have brainstem infarctions on MRI (T1-weighted image showed a low signal and T2-weighted image showed a high signal, measuring in excess of 2 × 2 mm). The majority of the brainstem infarction were located in the pontine base in 132 cases (85.2%). Of these, 19 cases had double lesions including infarctions in the pontine base. Second infarctions frequently occurred in the cerebral peduncle or medical medulla oblongata, unilateral to the pontine infarctions. In addition to 98 symptomatic cases, there were 57 cases of “asymptomatic” brainstem infarction. They comprized 24 cases accompanying other symptomatic cerebrovascular diseases in the supratentorium and 33 cases with transient subjective complaints such as headache or vertigo-dizziness. Complication by supratentorial infarctions was significantly frequent in cases of brainstem infarctions (p<0.001), 122 of 155 cases (78.7%), especially in the pontine base (88.6%); while in the control cases (without brainstem infarction) only 65 of 221 cases (29.4%). These findings are considered to show the widespread progress of arteriosclerosis in brainstem infarctions, especially in ones in the pontine base.
