Pathology of small vessel stroke

Disease of small intracerebral vessels is widely assumed to be responsible for the majority of small, deep-seated (lacunar) infarcts and primary intra cerebral haemorrhages. Our present, limited understanding of the pathogenes is of these stroke subtypes, which together constitute up to one-third of a ll strokes, is based on a limited number of detailed pathology studies, sup ported by clinical, risk factor and imaging data. Further progress using th ese traditional approaches has been prevented by a variety of largely techn ical obstacles. It is suggested that advances in our understanding of the g enetic basis of established and new animal stroke models, in turn linked to more focused human genetic stroke surveys, may hold the key to further ins ights.