Leukoaraiosis in relation to prognosis for patients with lacunar infarction

Close relations between leukoaraiosis detected by computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging and stroke, particularly lacunar infarction, have been reported. We studied whether leukoaraiosis is related to long-term prognosis for patients with lacunar infarction.

We examined monthly 215 patients with lacunar infarction after their first stroke. They comprised 95 patients with leukoaraiosis disclosed by computed tomography on admission (58 men and 37 women; mean age, 71.3 +/- 9.0 years) and 120 patients without leukoaraiosis (81 men and 39 women; mean age, 65.5 +/- 8.9 years). These patients had no previous history of either stroke or obvious dementia before their index stroke. We compared the prognosis with and without leukoaraiosis based on analysis of recurrent stroke, survival, and the prevalence of dementia and rate of dependence in activities of daily living.

Life table analysis revealed that the recurrent stroke rate was significantly higher in the patients with leukoaraiosis than in those without it (p = 0.004). The prevalence of dementia and rate of dependence in activities of daily living both 1 month after the index stroke and at the end of the follow-up period were significantly higher in the patients with leukoaraiosis (all parameters, P less than 0.001). Their survival rate was significantly lower than in those not suffering from leukoaraiosis (p = 0.012). Significant differences in these comparisons were also observed after matching for age and sex.

The presence of leukoaraiosis as identified by computed tomography indicates a poor prognosis for patients with lacunar infarction.