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Updated: Jun 4, 2026

Myocardial Infarction and Functional Outcome Assessment in Pigs
Published on: April 25, 2014
A case of bilateral medial medullary infarction presenting with "heart appearance" sign
Kentaro Tokuoka1, Naoki Yuasa, Tatsuya Ishikawa
1Department of Neurology, Tokai University Hachioji Hospital, 1838 Ishikawa, Hachioji, Tokyo 192-0032 Japan. tokuoka.kentaro@hachioji-hosp.tokai.ac.jp
Abstract:
Bilateral medial medullary infarction (bilateral MMI) is an extremely rare cerebrovascular accident presenting with quadriplegia as the initial symptom and resulting in poor functional prognosis. Diagnosis of bilateral MMI has become possible based on brain MRI findings in recent years, but is still very difficult to diagnose. In the present case, brain MRI was performed 9 hours after the onset, and the infarcted area was detected only by diffusion-weighted MRI. However, changes over time were clearly detected by FLAIR-MRI on days 3, 5 and 7, but it is essential to confirm the disease by DW-MRI in the early stage.The infarct observed on horizontal MRI sections showed the characteristic "heart appearance" sign. For an early diagnosis of bilateral MMI, it is essential to bear in mind that characteristic findings may be obtained by diffusion-weighted MRI.
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