title: Causes of small deep infarcts detected by CT.
abstract: Clinical data of 83 patients with symptomatic CT detected small deep infarcts in one of the cerebral hemispheres were retrospectively reviewed. 61 Percent had hypertension. In 15 percent a cardiac embolus was the most probable cause of a small deep infarct. In 22 cases angiography had been performed and ipsilateral internal carotid stenosis was present in 6 cases. It is suggested that small deep infarcts visible on CT may be caused by cardiac emboli and artery-to-artery emboli from carotid lesions, besides small vessel disease due to hypertension. Therefore anticoagulation or angiography, if need be, followed by carotid endarterectomy, may be indicated in a number of cases.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed