Objective:

Silent brain infarcts are a term used for no symptoms and findings clinically but have evidence in cranial radiologic imagings or autopsy materials. The development of cranial imaging techniques in recent years has facilitated the detection of silent brain infarcts. The aim of this study is to investigate the risk factors in patients with silent posterior cerebral artery (PCA) infarct and compare them with patients with symptomatic cerebral artery infarctions.

Materials and Methods:

A total of 30 patients, 23 men and 7 women, who had no previous neurological findings but who had a silent PCA infarction on cranial imaging, were included in this study. A total of 87 patients, 46 male and 41 female, who were evaluated as symptomatic cerebral infarction according to anamnesis, clinical and radiological findings and treated in our clinic during the same period, were randomized into the control group.

Results:

Both groups were compared in terms of risk factors. While age, smoking, oral contraceptive and/or hormone preparation use, stroke history in family, hyperlipidemia, diabetes mellitus, heart valve disease, myocardial infarction, hypertension, transient ischemic attack history, pathologic electrocardiogram findings, heart failure and atrial fibrillation were not different in both groups, alcohol consumption and gender considered as risk factors were found to be different between the groups.

Conclusion:

In this study, risk factors for silent posterior cerebral infarction and symptomatic cerebral infarction were found to be similar except for alcohol and gender. Determination of all these risk factors, particularly introduction of changeable, treatable risk factors, taking attention of physician and community to this subject will lead to the removal of very important distances to avoid diseases which increase mortality and morbidity such as cerebrovascular diseases.

Keywords: Cerebral infarction, posterior cerebral artery, risk factors