[Isolated pontine infarction: vascular anatomy helps understand clinical signs]

Clinical findings of pontine infarcts are more frequently described as classical crossed-syndrome. The aim of this study was to analyse clinical presentation of isolated pontine infarcts. From the Besancon Stroke Registry, we retrospectively studied 34 patients with isolated pontine infarcts documented on MRI with a strict centro-bicommissural plane as the reference. MRI were analyzed using an arterial territories mapping of brainstem. Among our 34 pts, none developed a classical crossed-syndrome. A thorough knowledge of vascular anatomy of brainstem is necessary to understand clinical findings. Moreover, this knowledge allow to explain the rare occurrence of pontine crossed-syndrome.