THALAMIC ATROPHY FOLLOWING CEREBRAL INFARCTION IN THE TERRITORY OF THE MIDDLE CEREBRAL-ARTERY

We investigated shrinkage of the ipsilateral thalamus following infarction in the territory of the middle cerebral artery in 33 patients who were admitted less-than-or-equal-to 2 days after the stroke and who were followed by computed tomography for > 1 year with no recurrences. The thalamic area was measured on the computed tomograms, and the ratio of the ipsilateral area to the contralateral area was calculated. All values were compared with values from the initial computed tomogram taken less-than-or-equal-to 2 days after the stroke. The values of the ratio on follow-up computed tomograms decreased gradually in 15 patients. In these cases, the area of the ipsilateral thalamus was significantly reduced after 1 year (p < 0.01) and marked atrophy was observed. These results demonstrate the significance of remote changes over a long period of time after focal cerebral infarction.