Abstract
Advances in neuroradiological diagnostic equipment have made even the diagnosis of brainstem vascular lesions much easier. To understand neu-rological symptomatology more precisely, however, it is necessary to know the microanatomy of brainstem blood supply in relation to brainstem structures and clinical manifestations of brainstem vascular lesions. Currently, several incorrect classifications of brainstem blood supply are used throughout the world. Such classifications have been proposed without the study of brainstem structures and vascular distribution by serial sections of the brainstem. We propose that it is best to classify clinical manifestations of brainstem vascular lesions according to the anatomical sites of the lesions and precise knowledge of blood supply. This paper discusses this point and shows that intracerebral vascular syndromes should be named by the vascular supplying areas, not by the subarachnoid vessels.
