Clinical study of 99 patients with pure sensory stroke

We report a clinical description of pure sensory stroke based on data collected from a prospective acute stroke registry.

From 2500 acute stroke patients included in a hospital-based prospective stroke registry over a 12-year period, 99 were identified as having pure sensory stroke.

Pure sensory stroke accounted for 4.7% of all acute stroke patients, 5.4% of acute ischemic stroke, and 17.4% of lacunar syndromes. Complete hemisensory syndrome was present in 80 patients and incomplete hemisensory syndrome in 19 (cheiro-oral syndrome 12, cheiro-oral-pedal 6, isolated oral syndrome 1). The lacunar hypothesis was fulfilled in 88% of patients. Atherothrombotic infarction occurred in 8 patients, intracerebral hemorrhage in 3, and stroke of undetermined cause in 1. Hemorrhagic pure sensory stroke was diagnosed in 1% of all cases of hemorrhagic stroke (n = 270) in the database. Outcome was good (in-hospital mortality 0%, symptom-free at discharge 41.5%). After multivariate analysis, absence of disability at discharge, hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and thalamic (56.5%) and corona radiata (4%) locations were clinical and topographic variables significantly associated with pure sensory stroke.

Pure sensory stroke is an infrequent cerebrovascular syndrome, in which the lacunar hypothesis is supported. Most patients had thalamic lacunar infarction. Incomplete hemisensory syndromes were also caused by a lacunar infarct in 84% of patients. Hemorrhagic pure sensory stroke accounted only for 3% of the cases. The prognosis is good with striking similarity to other lacunar strokes. There are important differences between pure sensory stroke and nonlacunar strokes.