Are sensorimotor strokes lacunar strokes? A casecontrol study of lacunar and non-lacunar infarcts

To determine whether sensorimotor strokes should be considered as lacunar syndromes 34 consecutive patients with first-ever ischaemic sensorimotor stroke were evaluated and compared with 103 patients with non-lacunar infarcts and another 88 patients with lacunar infarcts. Potential thromboembolic sources were more frequent in patients with nonlacunar infarcts (p = 0 003, versus sensorimotor strokes). Although the overall prevalence of hypodense lesions at CT scan was not significantly different among the three groups, lacunar lesions were found in 47-1% of sensorimotor strokes, compared with 6-8% of nonlacunar infarcts (p <00001). In a mean follow up period of 28-7 months, the incidence of stroke and myocardial infarction among sensorimotor strokes was similar to that of patients with lacunar infarct, but significantly lower than in non-lacunar infarcts (p <0 05). These results demonstrate important differences between sensorimotor and nonlacunar infarcts, but qulite similar findings in sensorimotor and lacunar strokes, and thus support the theory that sensorimotor strokes are commonly due to lacunar lesions.