Relationship between different topographic location and neurological deterioration in acute new isolated pontine infarction

Objective To investigate the relationship between different topographic locations and neurological deteriorations (ND) in patients with acute new isolated pontine infarction. Methods One hundred sixty-eight patients with acute new isolated pontine infarction during arch 2012 to March 2016 were identified by diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) for retrospective review. Patients were divided into two groups according to their clinical symptoms: patients with ND and patients without ND. According to neuroimaging of DWI, the topographic location of pontine infarction was divided into three types: The upper, middle, and lower ones, and the correlations of ND with risk factors, laboratory examination results, clinical manifestations and different topographic locations were explored by statistical tests. Results Of 168 patients, 26.8% (45/168) were diagnosed with ND, and 73.2% (123/168) were diagnosed without ND. Univariate analysis showed that there were differences in female ratio [62.2% (28/45) vs 41.5% (51/123)], smoking ratio [13.3% (6/45) vs 26.0% (32/123)], mean length of hospital stay [(22.83 ± 7.12)d vs (19.31 ± 7.65)d], ratio of worse short-term clinical outcomes [77.8% (35/45) vs 33.3% (41/123)], and ratio of lower pontine infarction [55.6% (25/45) vs 26.0% (32/123)] between two groups (P<0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that lower pontine infarction was the independent risk factor of ND (OR=1.953, 95% CI: 1.092-3.535, P=0.029). Conclusions Topographic location of lower pons lesions may be reliable predictor of ND in acute new isolated pontine infarction. Key words: Pons/PP; Brain infarction/PP/CO; Nervous system diseases/CO