[Thalamic infarcts--clinical aspects, neuropsychological findings, prognosis]

Results of clinical investigations and CCT of 23 patients with thalamic infarctions were evaluated retrospectively. Nineteen patients underwent a clinical and 15 a neuropsychological examination one to 5 years after their stroke. Regarding the affected vascular territory, the patients were divided into the following subgroups: paramedian infarctions (posterior thalamo-subthalamic arteries, 13 patients, among them 5 bilateral infarcts); anterolateral infarcts (tuberothalamic arteries, 5 patients); posterolateral infarcts (thalamo-geniculate arteries, 5 patients). The leading symptoms of paramedian thalamic infarcts were disturbance of consciousness, amnesia and vertical gaze palsy. The patients with anterolateral thalamic infarctions became acutely confused and disorientated, whereas those with posterolateral infarcts suffered from focal neurological deficits in the first place. Five patients with leftsided thalamic infarctions of varying localization were aphasic. Two patients died within the observation period. A slight hemiparesis was detected in two patients and a vertical gaze palsy in 4, respectively, by the neurological reexamination one to 5 years after the stroke, whereas the clinical findings in 11 patients were completely normal. However 5 patients had a chronic psychosyndrome. The neuropsychological examination showed in some cases disorders of visual retention and verbal function as well as deficits in concentration. Neither the character nor the degree of the neuropsychological deficits did depend on the affected vascular territory but on the existence of further cerebral infarcts on CT-scan.