Definitions for Lacunar Syndromes, Lacunar Strokes, Lacunar Infarcts and Lacunes: from Clinical to Neuroimaging

Abstract

Lacunar infarcts or small subcortical infarcts, one of the phenotypic subtypes of the cerebral small vessel disease, account for 20-25% of all acute cerebral strokes ^[1-3]. Lacunar infarcts have a favorable short term prognosis, with a low early mortality and reduced functional disability at hospital discharge. However, the mid- and longer-term prognoses have an increased risk of death, stroke recurrence and dementia. Based on neuroimaging, lacunar infarcts are usually defined as an ischemic subcortical stroke of less than 15 mm in diameter.