Pathophysiology of Lacunar Stroke: History's Mysteries and Modern Interpretations

Background: Since the term “lacune” was adopted in the 1800s to describe infarctions from cerebral small vessels, their underlying pathophysiological basis remained obscure until the 1960s when Charles Miller Fisher performed several autopsy studies of stroke patients. Methods: He observed that the vessels displayed segme ntal arteriolar disorganization that was associated with vessel enlargement, hemorrhage, and fibrinoid deposition. He coined the term “lipohyalinosis” to describe the microvascular mechanism that engenders small subcortical infarcts in the absence of a compelling embolic source.

Source: Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases - May 27, 2019 Category: Neurology Authors: Robert W. Regenhardt, Alvin S. Das, Ryo Ohtomo, Eng H. Lo, Cenk Ayata, Mahmut Edip Gurol Tags: Review Article Source Type: research