Susmita Giri Jana1 , Sudhish Hazra2 , Sirshendu Khamrui3 , Bhaskar Bhattacharyya4 , Rajatsubhra Haldar5 , Priyadarshini Sur6 , Ananya Mondal7 , Raman Sau8
BACKGROUND Stroke in posterior circulation accounts for 10 - 15% of all strokes, and 80% of them are ischaemic strokes.1 But there is a paucity of studies determining aetiopathogenetic factors and outcome in PCS (Posterior Circulation Stroke). Presentation of posterior circulation stroke is diverse that differ from strokes in anterior circulation in aetiology, clinical features, and prognosis.2-6 we wanted to delineate, nature of stroke, pattern of anatomical involvement in PCS stroke by means of CT, and MRI, in a group of 50 random patients with posterior circulation stroke at a tertiary care hospital. METHODS Fifty random adult patients 40 – 80 yrs. of age presenting with posterior circulation stroke were studied over a period of one and half years. The patients were subjected to thorough clinical examination and radiological evaluation by means of CT scan and MRI. Analysis included age, sex, type of stroke, location of stroke, radiological evaluation and associated features. We tried to reach a definite diagnosis utilizing the available clinical & radiological data. RESULTS Out of 50 patients, 29 were Male (58%) & 21 were Female (42%) with a mean age of 59.04 +/- 7.05 yrs. 34 patients had ischaemic (68%) stroke and rest had haemorrhagic stroke. Isolated brainstem involvement was seen in maximum number of patients (44%), followed by cerebellum (36%). Out of 18 patients who experienced cerebellar stroke, 14 were ischaemic (78%) and 4 were haemorrhagic (22%) in nature. Six out of seven cases of right cerebellar hemispheric strokes were ischaemic in nature (85.71%) and eight out of 11 left cerebellar hemispheric strokes were ischaemic in nature (72.73%). Out of nine patients who experienced medullary strokes, seven were ischaemic (78%); whereas two were haemorrhagic (22%). Three of them (33.33%) had medial medullary stroke and six (66.67%) had lateral medullary strokes. 66.67% medial medullary strokes were haemorrhagic and all of lateral medullary strokes were ischaemic in nature. CONCLUSIONS PCS showed male predominance with a mean age 59.04 +/- 7.05 yrs. Ischaemic strokes outnumbered haemorrhagic strokes in case of PCS. The most common location of PCS was brainstem. Cerebellar ischaemic stroke was more common than haemorrhagic stroke. Pontine haemorrhage was more common in cases of brainstem haemorrhage.
