Clinical study of 222 patients with pure motor stroke

The objective was to assess the frequency of pure motor stroke caused by di fferent stroke subtypes and to compare demographic, clinical, neuroimaging, and outcome data of pure motor stroke with those of patients with other la cunar stroke as well as with those of patients with nonlacunar stroke. Data from 2000 patients with acute stroke (n=1761) or transient ischaemic a ttack (n=239) admitted consecutively to the department of neurology of an a cute care 350 bed teaching hospital were prospectively collected in the Sag rat Cor Hospital of Barcelona stroke registry over a 10 year period. For th e purpose of the study 222 (12.7%) patients with pure motor stroke were sel ected. The other study groups included 218 (12.3%) patients with other lacu nar strokes and 1321 (75%) patients with non-lacunar stroke. In relation to stroke subtype, lacunar infarcts were found in 189 (85%) pat ients, whereas ischaemic lacunar syndromes not due to lacunar infarcts occu rred in 23 (10.4%) patients (atherothrombotic stroke in 12, cardioembolic s troke in seven, infarction of undetermined origin in three, and infarction of unusual aetiology in one) and haemorrhagic lacunar syndromes in 10 (4.5% ). Patients with pure motor stroke showed a better outcome than patients wi th non-lacunar stroke with a significantly lower number of complications an d in hospital mortality rate, shorter duration of hospital stay, and a high er number of symptom free patients at hospital discharge. After multivariat e analysis, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, hyperlipidaemia, non-sudden st roke onset, internal capsule involvement, and pons topography seemed to be independent factors of pure motor stroke in patients with acute stroke. In conclusion, about one of every 10 patients with acute stroke had a pure motor stroke. Pure motor stroke was caused by a lacunar infarct in 85% of p atients and by other stroke subtypes in 15%. Several clinical features are more frequent in patients with pure motor stroke than in patients with non- lacunar stroke.