Selective Gray Matter Infarction in the Basal Ganglia Associated With Transient Ischemic Attack

ABSTRACT

Selective gray-matter involvement has been recognized in global cerebral ischemia, but is not readily acknowledged to occur in focal ischemic stroke. The author reports two patients with acute infarcts that selectively affected the gray matter of the basal ganglia among the striatocapsular areas, but spared the white matter of the internal capsule. The clinical manifestation was transient ischemic attack in both patients. The observations indicate that selective gray-matter injury can occur following focal ischemia under a certain condition of transient ischemic attack.