Research advances on factors relevant to the progression of acute isolated pontine infarction

Progression of acute isolated pontine infarction (IPI) is a common clinical event that positively correlates with the patients′ adverse prognosis. Therefore, exploration on the relevant factors and predictors to the progression of IPI has become the current research hotspot. To date, the relevant factors that have been proposed include basilar artery branch disease, female, hypertension and blood pressure fluctuation, hyperglycemia, morphological features of the lesions (ventral surface of pons involvement, located at the lower pons, multiple axial slices affected, conglomerated beads shape), severe white matter diseases, atherosclerosis, long diameter and midline location of basilar artery, and so on. However, the interpretation on existing results has to be cautious as the definition for progressive IPI, criteria for inclusion and exclusion, and examinations are inconsistent in different studies. The investigation on relevant factors to the progression of IPI still requires standardized, large-scale prospective clinical studies. Key words: Stroke; Pons; Relevant factors