Preferred involvement of the basal ganglia after lenticulostriate infarction as a possible indicator of different gray and white matter vulnerability.
OBJECTIVE
Symptomatic progression is frequently observed in lacunar infarcts. The exact mechanisms of this phenomenon have not yet been clarified.


METHODS
We report 2 patients with lenticulostriate artery infarcts that presented with skip lesions that were restricted to gray matter. One of the patients subsequently developed symptomatic deterioration; the other experienced no further neurological events.


CONCLUSIONS
A possible mechanism of differential vulnerability to ischemia of gray and white matter is considered. White matter may have a longer therapeutic time window for neuroprotective treatment than gray matter.
Nagakane
Yoshinari
Y
Department of Neurology, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, 465 Kajii-cho, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto 602-8566, Japan. nagakane@koto.kpu-m.ac.jp
Yamada
Kei
K
Ohara
Tomoyuki
T
Yoshikawa
Kenji
K
Kuriyama
Nagato
N
Takayasu
Natsuko
N
Kasai
Takashi
T
Yuki
Natsuko
N
Nishimura
Tsunehiko
T
Mizuno
Toshiki
T
Nakagawa
Masanori
M
D000368:Aged; D001480:Basal Ganglia Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D020520:Brain Infarction / Q000473:pathology*; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020772:Internal Capsule / Q000473:pathology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009413:Nerve Fibers, Myelinated / Q000473:pathology; D009474:Neurons / Q000473:pathology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D011699:Putamen / Q000473:pathology; D020521:Stroke / Q000473:pathology*