Locomotion outcome in hemiplegic patients with middle cerebral artery infarction: the difference between right- and...

This study was performed to analyze the locomotion outcome of hemiplegic patients with stroke and to explore the factors influencing it.

A total of 247 patients (mean age 65.6 +/- 10.5 years) admitted to our hospital for rehabilitation were included in the study. Their cardinal neurologic sign was hemiplegia caused by infarction in the middle cerebral artery as a result of a first stroke. When rehabilitation programs were completed, the final motor outcome was evaluated and compared between patients with right and left hemispheric infarct. In addition, the following items were analyzed: size, location, and subtype of the infarct; hemispatial neglect and aphasia; cerebral blood flow (CBF); and periventricular lucency on computed tomography scan.

(1) There was a negative relationship between the infarct size and the locomotion outcome. The difference in locomotion outcome was not significant between the patients with infarction of the perforating arteries and those of the cortical arteries. No significant difference in the locomotion outcome was found between the patients with an atherothrombotic or cardioembolic infarction. (2) In spite of the existence of hemispatial neglect or aphasia, the patients with a right-sided infarction were significantly inferior to patients with a left-sided one in locomotion outcome, except for those with a large infarction. (3) In patients with infarction in the territory of the perforating arteries, there was a negative relationship between the area of decreased CBF or periventricular lucency and the locomotion outcome. When the area of decreased CBF on the homolateral hemisphere involving the infarction extended to less than or equal to two cerebral lobes, the locomotion outcome was significantly worse in the patients with a right-sided infarction.

Overall, for the patients with middle cerebral artery infarction, the locomotion outcome was poorer in patients with a right hemispheric infarction than a left-sided one, except in the case of a large infarction.