[Clinical picture and differential diagnosis of the pseudo-stroke syndrome in urgent somatic pathology].

A clinical and pathomorphological examination has covered 206 subjects who died due to various urgent somatic abnormalities (myocardial infarction, pulmonary thromboembolism, pneumonia, etc.) whose clinical picture was largely characterized by general cerebral and focal neurological symptoms. To denote the aforementioned conditions, the term "pseudo-stroke" has been utilized. Pathomorphological examination of the brain has revealed multiple cysts in the hemispheres and brain stem in 40.8%, single cysts in 17.0% and no focal damage to the cerebral matter in 42.2% of cases. On the basis of a retrospective analysis of neurological manifestations of the pseudo-stroke syndrome in urgent somatic abnormalities, the authors have identified the regularities of its course, criteria of differential diagnosis, and possible pathogenetic mechanisms of the development of the above conditions.