title: [Infarcts in the brain areas supplied by the posterior cerebral artery. Clinical aspects, pathogenesis and prognosis].
abstract: The clinical and neuroradiological features of 127 patients with ischemia of the posterior cerebral artery (PCA) and a positive CT scan (n = 122) or pathological angiography findings (n = 63) were analyzed. Unilateral headache was the most common presenting symptom (50%), making complicated migraine an important differential diagnosis. Clinical findings were visual field deficits (93%), sensory (29%), motor (28%), and neuropsychological deficits (25%). Infarcts, including the thalamus (n = 27), were mostly associated with sensory and slight motor deficits. Our findings suggest that motor deficits in PCA ischemia, particularly if minor and reversible, are likely to be due to ischemia-induced edema in the internal capsule adjacent to an associated thalamic infarct. Based on angiography, stroke etiology was considered embolic in 83/127 (65%), atherothrombotic in 20/126 (16%), and probably migrainous in 4 (3%) patients. In the remaining 20 patients (16%), the etiology was uncertain. Prognosis of PCA infarcts is usually good.
authors.affiliation: Neurologische Universitätsklinik Heidelberg.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Brandt
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Thie
authors.forename: L R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Caplan
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hacke
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001925:Brain Damage, Chronic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D001929:Brain Edema / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D002533:Cerebral Angiography; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D002542:Intracranial Embolism and Thrombosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009460:Neurologic Examination; D011379:Prognosis; D012307:Risk Factors; D013786:Thalamic Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology
vernacular_title: Infarkte im Versorgungsgebiet der A. cerebri posterior. Klinik, Pathogenese und Prognose.