Clinical Profile Of Posterior Circulation
Stroke In A Tertiary Care Centre In
Southern India
Key Words
217-221
Correspondence
Dr. Kora.S.A
‘Shailaja Nilaya’, Mahaveer Road
BAGALKOT- 587 101
(Karnataka-India)
E-mail: shreeramkora@yahoo.co.in
The present study has been undertaken in a tertiary care centre in southern India to known the clinical profile of posterior circulation stroke as there are few studies for the same in that mainly the New England Medical Center – Posterior Circulation Stroke Registry. To the best of our knowledge there are no studies available in literature regarding posterior circulation hemorrhagic strokes in India. A total number of 25 cases were studied during the period from Jan 2010 to Dec 2010 who were admitted to department of Medicine and Neurology in S.Nijalingappa Medical College and HSK Hospital & Research Center. Detailed clinical history was taken in all patients with general physical examination. CBC, urine analysis, random blood sugar, blood urea, serum electrolytes, lipid profile, ECG, CXR, and CT scan were done. In some selected cases CSF analysis, EEG and ECHO were done. Incidence of posterior circulation strokes was 12.31 % and male to female ratio was 3.1:1. Amongst posterior circulation strokes, ischaemic were far commoner than haemorrhagic (76% vs. 24%). The common manifestations were motor disturbances, altered sensorium, headache, speech and visual disturbances in ischaemic strokes. Altered sensorium was present in all cases of haemorrhagic strokes. The commonest predisposing factors were tobacco abuse and hypertension. The commonest neurological findings were altered sensorium, motor disturbances, cranial nerve involvement and cerebellar signs. Infratentorial infarcts were seen more frequently than supratentorial infarcts, in this study. Incidence of mortality was higher in haemorrhagic strokes than ischaemic strokes (50% vs. 26.3%)