SENSORIMOTOR STROKE CLINICAL-FEATURES, MRI FINDINGS, AND CARDIAC AND VASCULAR CONCOMITANTS IN 32 PATIENTS

Background and purpose - Sensorimotor stroke (SMS) is often included a mong the lacunar syndromes, although the underlying cause of this stro ke-subtype is less well documented. To this end we analysed 32 patient s presenting with a sensorimotor syndrome. Methods - The study protoco l included vascular risk factors, echocardiography, Doppler sonography of carotid arteries, CT scan and MRI of the brain. Results - There we re 23 men and 9 women, mean age 65.7 years. Hypertension was present i n 28% and diabetes in 19%. In all, 63% had sensorimotor deficit of fac iobrachiocrural areas and 37% had faciobrachial or brachiocrural defic its. MRI disclosed a presumably relevant infarct in 26 patients (81%); 20 patients (62%) localized to the territory of small perforating art eries, 3 patients (9.5%) in the internal borderzone, and 3 patients (9 .5%) in cortical territories. Eight of 20 deep infarcts were larger th an 15 mm. No hemorrhage or non-vascular lesion was found. A potential cardioembolic source was present in 5 patients (16%), whereas 2 patien ts (6%) had an ipsilateral carotid stenosis >50%. Conclusions - Small vessel disease was the most likely cause in 69% of our patients with S MS, whereas 31% had a potential cardioembolic source, large artery dis ease or infarcts not compatible with perforating artery disease.