Pure sensory stroke caused by a cerebral hemorrhage: clinical-radiologic correlations in seven patients.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Pure sensory stroke (PSS) usually is caused by a lacunar infarct; reports of PSS caused by cerebral hemorrhage have been rare. We correlated clinical and neuroradiologic findings in patients with PSS caused by cerebral hemorrhage. METHODS We retrospectively studied seven patients with appropriate clinical findings and lesions revealed by X-ray CT and MR imaging (five men, two women; age range, 46-64 years; mean age, 55.9 years). RESULTS Hemorrhages involved the thalamus, pons, internal capsule, or cerebral cortex. MR imaging revealed thalamic PSS was located in the ventral posterior lateral (VPL) or ventral posterior medial (VPM) nucleus; a lesion producing a thalamic cheiro-oral syndrome was situated on the border between the VPL and VPM. Pontine PSS involved the medial lemniscus together with the ventral trigeminothalamic tract, sparing the anterior and lateral spinothalamic tracts. Accordingly, pontine PSS, but not thalamic PSS, selectively affected vibration and position sense while leaving pinprick and temperature perception intact, and oral sensory involvement was bilateral when cheiro-oral syndrome had a pontine origin. MR imaging revealed hemorrhage in the postcentral gyrus in the cortical variety of PSS and in the posterior part of the posterior limb (thalamocortical sensory pathway) in PSS of internal capsular origin. The postcentral gyral lesion impaired stereognosis and graphesthesia. CONCLUSION Focal hemorrhages can lead to purely sensory stroke syndromes, and the clinical deficits are fairly well linked with the locations of the bleeds.