Lacunar and Other Subcortical Infarctions

This multiauthored text consists of 23 chapters written by an international group of experts in stroke. It is divided into 6 sections: the general concept of subcortical infarction; the lacunar debate; clinical and investigatory aspects of lacunar syndromes; topographically defined infarcts in the region of the basal ganglia; other aspects of subcortical infarction; and classification. Topics as diverse as the history of lacunes to the occurrence of lacunes in persons with neurotuberculosis are included.

The continuing debate about lacunar strokes and lacunar syndromes is included in the monograph. Although the authors of the chapters nicely summarize the data that support their opinions about the nature of small subcortical infarctions, little new information is included that will lead to a resolution. Some of the chapters apparently were written well before publication; for example, on page 118, Caplan and Helgason cite a 1990 article as being 2 years old. The highlights of