|
A 57 year-old man with presented with weakness and apraxia of the left arm and leg. |
| Shower of Emboli: Diffusion weighted MRIs. Note the multiple areas of diffusion abnormalities that indicate acute infarction. These areas are present mostly in the right middle cerebral artery distribution. However, note that there is also clearly an acute infarct in the left head of the caudate (left image). Thus, there are infarctions in multiple vascular territories. This pattern of multiple, acute strokes in different vascular territories usually signifies a shower of emboli, typically from a cardiac source. In this patient, atrial fibrillation was later discovered to be the cardiac source. |
Revised
11/23/06
Copyrighted 2006. David C Preston