Bmc Neurol
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Case Reports
An unexpected evolution of symptomatic mild middle cerebral artery (MCA) stenosis: asymptomatic occlusion.
The intracranial localization of large artery disease is recognized as the main cause of ischemic stroke in the world, considering all countries, although its global burden is widely underestimated. Indeed it has been reported more frequently in Asians and African-American people, but the finding of intracranial stenosis as a cause of ischemic stroke is relatively common also in Caucasians. The prognosis of patients with stroke due to intracranial steno-occlusion is strictly dependent on the time of recanalization. Moreover, the course of the vessel involvement is highly dynamic in both directions, improvement or worsening, although several data are derived from the atherosclerotic subtype, compared to other causes. ⋯ Regardless of the role of metabolic and/or inflammatory factors on the aetiology of the intracranial stenosis in this case, the course of the vessel disease was unexpected and previously unreported in the literature at our knowledge.