CAPSULAR INFARCTS - LOCATION, SIZE AND ETIOLOGY OF PURE MOTOR HEMIPARESIS, SENSORIMOTOR STROKE AND ATAXIC HEMIPARESIS

We investigated the types of syndrome, location, size and presumed cau ses of 72 patients with acute capsular lacunar infarction. Clinical sy ndromes were classified into pure motor hemiparesis (PM), sensorimotor stroke (SM) and ataxic hemiparesis (AH). Lesion sizes of AH were sign ificantly smaller than those of PM (p < 0.01) or SM (p < 0.01). When t he lesion volume was classified into two groups, greater-than-or-equal -to 1 ml and < 1 ml, the large volume group had more frequent cardioem bolic sources than the small volume group (41% and 18% respectively, p < 0.05). In AH patients no cardioembolic sources could be detected. S ignificant carotid stenosis was found in only 4% of patients. Patients with anterior choroidal artery territory infarction had infrequent ca rdioembolic sources (7%). The results suggest that the lesion size var ies with clinical syndrome and some etiological trends are seen in the volume and the location of lesions.