[Changes in the Q-Tc interval in the acute phase of cerebral ischemic infarction]

A clinical prospective study was carried out in 100 patients with stroke (S) (56 with lacunar infarctions [LI] and 44 with nonlacunar infarctions [NLI]) and in a control group without organic cerebral disease (n = 100) to compare the abnormalities in the Q-Tc interval of the electrocardiogram. An abnormal Q-Tc interval (greater than 0.44 sec) was found in 18% of S and in 8% of the control subjects (p less than 0.05). These abnormalities in S were more common at the onset of the disease (18%) than from 3 weeks after the development of focal signs (9%). An abnormal Q-Tc interval was found in 18% of NLI (8 of 44 cases) and in 18% of NLI (10 of 56 cases). Regarding the topography of the lesions, an abnormal Q-Tc interval was found in 20% (3 of 15 cases) of the brainstem infarctions; in 19% of the infarctions of basal ganglia (9 of 47 cases) and in 13% (4 of 30 cases) of hemispheral strokes. Our results show that the abnormalities of Q-Tc interval in strokes are not uncommon. They may be reversible and in some cases they are related with the topography of the cerebral lesion.