CEREBELLAR BORDER ZONE INFARCTS ARE OFTEN ASSOCIATED WITH PRESUMED CARDIAC SOURCES OF ISCHEMIC STROKE

It has been suggested that most border zone cerebellar infarcts are em bolic infarcts or infarcts due to hygercoagulable states. The aim of t his study was to test this hypothesis. Risk factors for the presumed m echanism of stroke (TOAST criteria) were studied in 14 consecutive pat ients (nine men, five women; age range 29-84 years) with a total of 17 border zone cerebellar infarcts. The presumed cause of stroke was ''c ardioembolism'' in nine patients. Three patients had a dissection of t he vertebral artery. Two patients had a negative diagnostic investigat ion, and one had a cardiac arrest. These findings support the hypothes is that cardioembolism is a frequent mechanism of border zone cerebell ar infarcts.