Basilar artery atherosclerotic disease  is related to subacute lesion volume increase  in pontine base infarction.
BACKGROUND
Although basilar artery atherosclerotic disease (BAD) is frequent in patients with pontine base infarction, it remains unknown whether BAD is related to the lesion size or clinical outcome.


METHODS
We studied 56 patients with unilateral pontine base infarction who underwent (i) diffusion-weighted MRI within 48 h after stroke onset and (ii) follow-up MRI and MR angiography in the subacute stage. Neurologic progression was defined as increased National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score by > or = 2 during admission. Clinical outcome was dichotomized as good and poor (> or = 3) according to the modified Rankin Scale at 1 month after stroke onset.


RESULTS
Twenty-two patients (39%) had BAD and 15 patients (27%) had neurologic progression. Follow-up MRI performed at median 3.5 +/- 1.1 days after the initial MRI showed the lesion volume significantly increased (P < 0.001). The BAD was not significantly related to demographic characteristics, risk factors, initial and follow-up lesion volume, neurologic progression and clinical outcome, but was closely related to the subacute increase in lesion volume (P = 0.004 for 20% increase, P = 0.029 for 50% increase).


CONCLUSIONS
BAD is related to subacute increase in lesion volume, but not to ultimate poor clinical outcome in patients with pontine base infarction.
Kim
J S
JS
Stroke Center and Department of Neurology, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Asan Medical Center, Songpa-gu, Seoul, Korea. jongskim@amc.seoul.kr
Cho
K-H
KH
Kang
D-W
DW
Kwon
S U
SU
Suh
D C
DC
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D001488:Basilar Artery / Q000473:pathology; D020526:Brain Stem Infarctions / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011149:Pons / Q000098:blood supply / Q000473:pathology; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies