Cerebellar infarcts
ANGELOPOULOS P, THEOLOGOU A, KARLOVASITOU A, VLAIKIDIS N, COSTA V and S.J. BALOYANNIS

Due to the thick vascularization of the cerebellum, cerebellar infarcts are relatively rare and have a high probability of good functional recovery. In a retrograded study of 866 cases of stroke who were treated in the decade 1990- 1999 in the 15, Department of Neurology of Aristotelian University, Thessaloniki, Greece, we analyze 12 cases of cerebellar infarct (1,15% of patients with stroke). The mean age of the patients who suffered from cerebellar infarcts was 59 years, range 43 and 70 years. Infarcts in the territory of posterior cerebellar artery (PICA) were most common, followed by infarcts of the territory of the superior cerebellar artery (SCA). Infarct of the flocculus affecting a part of the periphery of the cerebellum was described in one of our cases due to occlusion of the lateral branches of the anterior inferior cerebellar artery (AICA). Our study emphasizes the' common occurrence of multiple small cerebellar infarcts due to the involvement of small distal arterial branches, which are well visualize in neuroimaging. Infarctions involving the border zone territories, watershed cerebellar strokes, were described in boundary zones between the posterior inferior cerebellar artery and the anterior inferior cerebellar artery on one hand, as well as between the posterior inferior cerebellar artery and the superior cerebellar artery on the other hand. The clinic- neuroimaging correlation of our cases enable us to define the clinical features of cerebellar infarcts according to the territory involved and size of the ischemic area. We would underline that very often the clinical presentations of the cerebellar infracts may be remarkably mild and the majority of the cases may have a benign outcome.