Right insular infarction and mortality after ischaemic stroke

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Several studies have described an association between insular infarction and mortality. Large infarcts often include the insula and lesion size is associated with mortality. We hypothesized that there is an association between insular infarction and mortality independent of lesion volume. METHODS: We included consecutive stroke patients between 1 September 2008 and 11 November 2012 from the 1000Plus database with an acute ischaemic lesion on diffusion-weighted imaging on day 1 and a completed 90-day follow-up. Insular infarct location was determined using the in-house software Stroke Lesion Atlas. In multiple Cox regression analysis (dependent variable: mortality), we adjusted for insular infarcts, age, lesion volume, history of atrial fibrillation, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale and previous stroke. RESULTS: We included 736 patients, of whom 168 had an insular infarction. Within a medium follow-up time of 107 days, cumulative survival was 90% in patients with insular infarction and 99% in patients without insular infarction (P < 0.001). Right insular infarction was independently associated with mortality (hazard ratio, 2.60; confidence interval, 1.3-5.4; P = 0.010). CONCLUSIONS: In our study, right insular involvement was a prognostic marker for mortality after ischaemic stroke. A selection bias towards patients able to give informed consent warrants further studies.