Are there clinical and radiological differences between patients with multiple asymptomatic lacunar infarcts versus a single symptomatic lacunar infarct?
Patients with multiple asymptomatic lacunar infarcts frequently have hypertension and leukoaraiosis, suggesting a distinct underlying small-vessel vasculopathy compared to those with a single symptomatic infarct.
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: We investigated the hypothesis that patients with one or more asymptomatic lacunar infarcts and those with only one symptomatic lacunar infarct represent two clinically distinct lacunar infarct entities. METHODS: In a prospective series of 100 lacunar infarct patients, univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed on clinical features, vascular risk factors, and leukoaraiosis between patients with and without asymptomatic lacunar infarcts. RESULTS: Patients with asymptomatic lacunar infarcts had hypertension significantly more often (71% versus 43%; crude odds ratio, 3.31; 95% confidence intervals, 1.16-9.43; p < 0.05) and had leukoaraiosis significantly more often (71% versus 19%; crude odds ratio, 10.67; 95% confidence intervals, 3.81-32.10; p < 0.001) than those with only a symptomatic lacunar infarct. After multivariate logistic regression analysis, only leukoaraiosis was significantly associated with the presence of asymptomatic lacunar infarcts. The asymptomatic lacunar infarcts differed in location, involved vascular territory, and volume from the symptomatic infarcts. CONCLUSIONS: Two distinct lacunar infarct entities might be broadly distinguished during life: lacunar infarct patients with a single, symptomatic lacunar infarct, and patients with multiple lacunar infarcts and a high frequency of hypertension and leukoaraiosis, in which the underlying small-vessel vasculopathy might be different.
Boiten et al. (Sat,) studied this question.