Abstract
Chronological and volumetric changes of the brain were studied with the help of an electronic optical planimeter in five autopsies from patients with left-sided embolism extending from the distal internal carotid artery to the proximal middle cerebral artery. Four brains had hemorrhagic infarctions. The survival periods were 2, 3, 4 and 11 days after the stroke. Characteristic diphasic abnormalities indicative of ischemic cerebral edema were noticeable not only in the ischemic hemisphere—especially when compared with the non-diseased side—but also in the non-ischemic hemisphere (although they were milder and started later in the latter case). The fifth non-hemorrhagic brain had only ischemic cerebral edema. There were no corticomedullary differences in volume between hemispheres. The patient survived two days.
The concept of corticomedullary volume ratio was introduced to evaluate quantitative gradings of ischemic volume changes between the cerebral cortex and white matter.
