Correlation 8: Cerebral Infarct

Seen here is an infarct involving the frontal lobe. The area of brain involved is in the distribution of the middle cerebral artery.

One form of "stroke" is a cerebral infarction. An infarct occurs when the blood supply to an area of an organ is disrupted and the cells served by that artery die. A cerebral artery can become occluded either through the process of atherosclerosis or by a blood clot that has travelled to the artery. There can be sudden loss of consciousness and function with a cerebral infarction. The larger the infarct and the more important the structures involved, the worse the loss of function and the worse the outcome. The classic "stroke" involves loss of movement on the side of the body opposite an infarction involving the motor cortex or its connections in a cerebral hemisphere.