[Lacunar infarct--special form of focal vascular pathology of the brain in arterial hypertension].

Lacunar infarctions were studied morphologically in 22 subjects who died of a cerebral hemorrhage associated with arterial hypertension. It has been established that lacunar infarctions developed in the intracerebral arteries 100-500 microns in diameter. Narrowing or obliteration of these arteries are brought about by the changes associated with arterial hypertension. An analysis of clinical and computer-tomographic data obtained from 32 patients with lacunar infarction showed that characteristic of these patients were the following features: 1) elevated arterial pressure, often without any cephalgia; 2) gradually developing (over a period of several hours or days) focal neurologic symptomatology; 3) the absence of either higher cortical dysfunctions or psychopathologic symptomatology with infarctions localized in the left or the right cerebral hemisphere respectively; and 4) considerable recovery of impaired functions.