ABSTRACT
Objective To compare and analyze the etiology,clinical manifestations and imaging differences of bilateral pontine infarction (BPI) and unilateral pontine infarction (UPI),and investigate the possible independent risk factors for BPI.Methods Consecutive patients with pontine infarction admitted to the Department of Neurology,the First People's Hospital of Kunshan from January 2015 to December 2017 were enrolled retrospectively.They were divided into BPI group and UPI group.The risk factors,laboratory findings,National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores,clinical manifestations,and basilar artery lesions were compared between the two groups.Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine the independent risk factors for BPI relative to UPI.Results A total of 131 patients with pontine infarction were enrolled,aged 66.22 ± 12.29 years,97 patients (72.52％) were male;14 (10.69％) were BPI,and 117 (89.31％) were UPI.In terms of clinical symptoms,consciousness disorder (35.71％ vs.6.83％;x2 =8.657,P =0.003),quadriplegia (50.00％ vs.5.12％;x2 =30.202,P ＜ 0.001),and dysphagia (71.42％ vs.29.91％;x2 =7.804,P =0.005) in the BPI group were more common than those in the UPI group.In terms of etiological classification,vertebrobasilar large artery disease (VLAD) was more common in the BPI group (85.71％ vs.27.35％;x2 =16.567,P ＜ 0.001),while small artery disease (SAD) was more common in the UPI group (49.57％ vs.7.14％;x2 =7.460,P =0.006).In addition,the baseline NIHSS scores (12.43 ±11.1 vs.3.78 ±3.98;t=2.873,P=0.013),white blood cell count ([9.21±2.81] ×109/L vs.[6.92± 2.40] ×109/L;t=3.191,P=0.002),baseline systolic blood pressure (170.57 ±31.21 mmHg vs.156.75 ±23.50 mmHg,1 mmHg =0.133 kPa;t =2.004,P =0.047),as well as the proportion of patients with severe stenosis or occlusion in basilar artery (78.57％ vs.8.55％;x2 =40.49,P ＜ 0.001) and with other site infarction (78.57 ％ vs.11.11％;x2 =33.652,P ＜ 0.001) in the BPI group were significantly higher than those in the UPI group.Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that severe basilar artery stenosis or occlusion (odds ratio [OR] 20.195,95％ confidence interval [CI]2.308-176.703;P =0.007),baseline NIHSS score (OR 1.147,95％ CI 1.019-1.292;P =0.023),and infarction at other sites (OR 19.483,95％ CI 2.969-127.868;P =0.002) were independently associated with BPI.Conclusion Compared with UPI,patients with BPI had more severe clinical symptoms and most of them with other site infarction.Severe stenosis or occlusion of the basilar artery was an independent risk factor for BPI.