Lacunary stroke. Clinical cases

   Introduction. Cerebral microangiopathy is the leading cause of vascular cognitive disorders accompined by dementia in the final stages of the disease.

   Purpose – to study the spectrum of lacunar syndromes in patients with acute cerebrovascular accidents based on our own observations and provide a description of rare clinical variants of the didorders.

   Materials and methods. We examined 18 patients (10 men and 8 women) aged 33 to 66 years (mean age 52.33 years) in the acute period of lacunar strokes (LS). We studied the neurological status, the data of laboratory-instrumental, speech therapy and neuropsychological testing. The diagnosis of LS was verified using magnetic resonance imaging.

   Results. Lacunar strokes were more common in patients of mature age (72.22 %) suffering from arterial hypertension (88.89 %) in combination with obesity (44.44 %); patients with atherosclerosis of the coronary and cerebral arteries (27.78 %), type 2 diabetes mellitus (22.22 %) found to have lacunar stroke less often. The sensorimotor hemisyndrome was found to be prevailed (44.44 %). Other classical lacunar syndromes were detected less frequently: with the same frequency (16.67 %) – isolated hemihypesthesia and «hemiballism / hemichorea», as well as «dysarthria – clumsy hand» (11.11 %). The predominant localization of the lesion is the right hemisphere (88.89 %), the internal capsule (66.67 %), rarely the thalamus (27.78 %). Multiple LS were registered in 27.78 % of cases, including the patients with tandem atherostenosis of the cerebral arteries. Descriptions of two clinical cases of LS are presented.

   Conclusion. Sensorimotor hemisyndrome dominated in clinical scenario. We also observed more rare disorders – bulbar syndrome with anarthria with bilateral damage to the knee of the internal capsule and hyperkinetic syndrome with myoclonus of the respiratory, vocal and articular apparatus. The right-hemispheric lesion predominated with the localization of foci in the internal capsule, the thalamus suffered rarely. Multiple LS were registered in 27.78 % of cases. LSs have unfavorable prognosis for patients with uncontrolled arterial hypertension combined with tandem stenoses of extra- and intracerebral arteries with cognitive disorders that made it difficult to manage patients. The relevance of LS neuroimaging in overweight patients was noted.

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