Imaging of acute bilateral paramedian thalamic and mesencephalic infarcts.
Thalami and midbrain arterial supply arises from many perforating blood vessels with a complex distribution for which many variations have been described. One rare variation, named the "artery of Percheron," is a solitary arterial trunk that arises from one of the proximal segments of a posterior cerebral artery and supplies the paramedian thalami and the rostral midbrain bilaterally. Occlusion of this artery results in bilateral thalamic and mesencephalic infarctions. We describe three patients with a presumed occlusion of the artery of Percheron in whom MR imaging showed characteristic symmetrical bilateral paramedian thalamic and mesencephalic infarctions.
Matheus
M Gisele
MG
Department of Radiology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
Castillo
Mauricio
M
D000208:Acute Disease; D000368:Aged; D002536:Cerebral Arteries / Q000473:pathology; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008636:Mesencephalon / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D013786:Thalamic Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*