Although this type of stroke is not uncommon, very little
attention has been paid to the functional recovery and longterm
prognosis of occlusion of the MCA or its branches.1
The patients of the present series had either occlusion
of the MCA or its branches which was verified by angiography
or autopsy. In considering the results we obtained,
one should reflect on our method of selecting patients: all
patients with ischemic brain infarction admitted to our
hospital are not treated in the Department of Neurology;
quite often, and especially when they are elderly, they are
treated by the Departments of Medicine. There is also the
selection of those patients referred from other hospitals:
elderly and seriously ill patients are preferentially treated in
the hospital of primary admission. Furthermore, all stroke
patients in the Department of Neurology are not examined
by angiography; an elderly patient showing signs of universal
arteriosclerosis often escapes angiographical examination
because of the risk of complications. This is why the
mean age is only 44 years in the present series; however, it is
almost identical with previous series.1