Language and memory disturbances from mesencephalothalamic infarcts. A clinical and computed tomography study.

Three right-handed subjects presented impairment of consciousness, paralysis of vertical gaze, aphasia and memory disturbances. Computed tomography scans showed low-density lesions in the paramedian areas of the left thalamus. Neuropsychological examination revealed a fluent aphasia in one patient and a nonfluent in two; all had paraphasias and perseveration. Comprehension, repetition and writing were normal. In the literature on so-called thalamic aphasia only a few cases are reported with involvement of the paramedian nuclear complex.

[Clinical considerations and EEG-CT correlations in lacunar infarcts]. / Considerazioni cliniche e correlazioni EEG-TC negli infarti lacunari.

56 cases of lacunar stroke were reviewed retrospectively. The patients showed a clinic picture which could be classified within nine of the lacunar syndromes recognized by Fisher. The localization of the lacunes was considered with respect to the clinical symptoms and the characteristics of the EEG and the TC and their different correlations were examined. The EEGrafic patterns of the lacunar strokes with normal TC were compared with those showing an altered one. Our study suggests that the absence of EEGrafic alterations may be a useful characteristic for the diagnosis of lacunar stroke, even when TC is normal. No significant correlations were found between the alterations of the EEG and the dimensions and/or localizations of the lacunes, as well as between the type of EEG (localized-wide-spread) and the size (large-small) of the lacunar infarcts.