Pathomorphological characteristics and risk factors of asymptomatic cerebral infarction based on the results of a cross-sectional hospital-based study

Abstract

Objective. To study the prevalence, pathomorphological characteristics and risk factors of asymptomatic cerebral infarction (CI) based on the results of post-mortem studies and clinical charts of patients. Material and methods. The autopsies of 735 patients died due to different diseases were analyzed using continuous sampling method. CI lesions were found in 86 patients (47 women, 39 men, mean age 76.3±10.5 years). Morphological parameters of CI and cardiovascular risk factors were analyzed. Results and conclusion. There were mean 2.7±1.5 CI lesions per patient in the main group: 47 (54.6%) patients had ≥3 lesions, 9 (10.5%) — 2 lesions and 30 (34.9%) — 1 lesion. The significantly higher frequency of cardiovascular risk factors was found in CI patients (arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus, atrial fibrillation, tobacco smoking) while the adherence to prevention strategies was lower compared to patients without CI.