Different Variables Between Patients with Left and Right Hemispheric Ischemic Stroke

We studied whether some variables differ between patients with right and left hemispheric ischemic stroke. A total of 383 cases were obtained from our department-based records between April 2003 and March 2006. Age distribution, sex, intracranial localization of anterior (carotid artery distribution) or posterior (vertebrobasilar artery distribution) circulation, mechanism subtypes according to Trial of Org 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment (TOAST) criteria, cerebrovascular risk factors, and time from clinical onset to admission were analyzed between the right and the left hemispheric ischemic stroke groups. In all, 200 patients had left hemispheric stroke and 183 patients had right hemispheric stroke. Age, sex, vascular risk profile, stroke subtypes, and mechanism subtypes were not statistically different between patients with right- and left-sided ischemic stroke. Time interval from neurologic onset to admission within 6 hours was significantly associated with left hemispheric cerebral infarction. Furthermore, patients with left-sided small-vessel occlusion visited our hospital earlier, up to 6 hours as compared with patients with right-sided small-vessel occlusion (P < .05). We suppose that patients with right-sided small-vessel occlusion may take time to be aware of neurologic deficits because of nondominant language or hand function. Our data indicate that different medical attention exists between patients with right and left hemispheric ischemic stroke. We should pay more attention to the difficulty in recognizing the neurologic deficits in patients with right hemisphere ischemic stroke, so that those patients delay hospital visit.

Key Words: Left and right hemisphere, ischemic stroke, differences, hospital