Bilateral paramedian thalamic artery infarcts: report of eight cases.
Eight consecutive patients with CT scan evidence of a bilateral infarct in the territory of the paramedian thalamic artery are reported. In seven cases the infarct also extended to the territory of the polar artery. The main symptoms were: disorder of vigilance which cleared in a few days, and hypersomnolence which lasted longer and in two patients was still present a year later; amnesia, detectable clinically in four patients and only with tests in two patients, which persisted in one patient for three years; changes of mood and bulimia present in five and four patients respectively; and vertical gaze paresis in five patients. Only one patient died, and in the remainder the symptoms tended to subside, but none of the patients who could be followed-up for a year returned to normal behaviour. Clinical and CT scan correlations pointed to the mammillo-thalamic tract as the structure whose damage was responsible for the memory disorders.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001158:Arteries; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D008875:Middle Aged; D013788:Thalamus / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed