[Characteristic features of ischaemic strokes in young adults (author's transl)]

Clinical symptoms, angiographic findings and risk factors were recorded according to a classification system in 28 women and 39 men who suffered an ischaemic cerebral stroke before the age of 40. This enabled correlations to be made within the group of young patients and the discovery--by comparison with a corresponding group of patients over 40--of statistically significant age-specific features of cerebro-vascular disease. Vascular lesions in young patients show a sex-specific distribution and a characteristic relationship to clinical symptoms. The prognosis is more favorable in young patients; risk factors which predispose to stroke and influence its further development are less frequent. It is, therefore, suggested that characteristic features of strokes in young adults can be partially explained by the fact that they are usually caused by single pathological alterations in otherwise healthy persons.