Lesion Patterns of Small Deep Infarcts Have Different Clinical and Imaging Characteristics

Abstract

Background: The mechanisms underlying small deep infarcts in the subcortical area are unknown. This study used coronal diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) to investigate clinical and radiological findings in patients with small deep infarcts. Methods: This was a retrospective study of consecutively admitted patients with small deep infarcts in the subcortical area. We divided the patients into two groups as follows: (1) those with isolated lesion (IL) defined as an IL in the parenchyma by coronal DWI (group A), and (2) those with linear lesion (LL), defined as a LL extending to the basal surface on coronal DWI (group B). Results: A total of 86 patients were included in this study, with 43 patients in each group. Neurological decline and ipsilateral MCA stenosis were observed more frequently in group B than in group A. Fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) signals showed that white-matter hyperintensity was more severe in group A than in group B (p = 0.015). Conclusions: This study suggests that LL patterns of small deep infarcts may result in a higher rate of neurological decline and ipsilateral MCA stenosis than IL patterns.