Small strokes causing severe vertigo: frequency of false-negative MRIs and nonlacunar mechanisms.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Describe characteristics of small strokes causing acute vestibular syndrome (AVS).

Methods

Ambispective cross-sectional study of patients with AVS (acute vertigo or dizziness, nystagmus, nausea/vomiting, head-motion intolerance, unsteady gait) with at least one stroke risk factor from 1999 to 2011 at a single stroke referral center. Patients underwent nonquantitative HINTS "plus" examination (head impulse, nystagmus, test-of-skew plus hearing), neuroimaging to confirm diagnoses (97% by MRI), and repeat MRI in those with initially normal imaging but clinical signs of a central lesion. We identified patients with diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) strokes ≤10 mm in axial diameter.

Results

Of 190 high-risk AVS presentations (105 strokes), we found small strokes i

SUBMITTER: Saber Tehrani AS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4117176 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature