Cerebellar Infarction With Brain Stem Compression

INFARCTION of the cerebellum is a diagnosis rarely made while the patient is alive.1Since 1960, we have encountered four such patients in a 1,000-bed general hospital. Each presented clinically as a posterior fossa mass compressing the brain stem; two were successfully treated by surgical decompression. Our experience is not unique; several similar cases have been reported previously. Because cerebellar infarction may be rapidly fatal without treatment, we wish to present our experience and to review the literature in an effort to define a syndrome which can be diagnosed early. Report of Cases CASE1.—A 36-year-old man had been in good health, except for mild hypertension, until November 1960 when he developed a generalized headache. Two weeks later, he came home from a football game, having apparently fallen and complaining of severe headache and dizziness. The next day he was unable to walk without lurching, and his