Correlation of clinical and MR-tomographic findings in patients with infarctions of brainstem

The aim of this study was the comparison of clinical and neurological findi ngs in 30 patients presenting with ischemic brainstem lesions. These were l ocalized in the midbrain in 4 cases, in the medulla in 12 cases and in the pens in 11 cases, while the remaining three patients demonstrated combined lesions. Symptoms were lesions of the pyramidal tract in 77 % of cases, ver tigo in 57 % of cases, speech disturbances in 40 % of cases and gait ataxia in 37 % of cases. Cranial nerve lesions were evident in 87 % of patients, while 33 % of patients demonstrated a Horner syndrome. Brainstem lesions we re diagnosed in 22 (73 %) of patients on magnetic resonance imaging, while all 30 patients had clinical signs suggestive of brainstem lesions. We conc lude that neuroradiological studies can provide helpful information regardi ng patients with brainstem lesions, but by no means replace exact neurologi cal examination.