[Pure dysarthria due to pontine infarction]

A 60-year-old man developed dysarthria in the morning. Neurological examination revealed no abnormality except for dysarthria. We diagnosed the patient as having a lacunar infarction. T2-weighted brain MRI revealed hyperintense lesion in the ventrolateral portion of the left upper pontine base. The clinical symptom completely disappeared on day 20. This is the first report on the MRI findings of the patient who showed pure dysarthria, which responsible lesion is in the pontine base. Involvement of corticopontine and corticobulbar tracts were considered to be responsible for the dysarthria in this case. This case may be useful for the somatotopy of corticopontine and corticobulbar tracts with articulation in the pontine base.