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Bulbar watershed ischemic stroke: the comma-shaped sign—a case series

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Abstract

Watershed infarcts can involve the brainstem, with lesions distributed across the terminal supply from the vertebral and cerebellar arteries. Brain imaging can highlight a comma-shaped lesion at the edge of vertebral and posteroinferior cerebellar artery vascularization territory. Such peculiar MRI lesion shape might suggest a watershed hypoperfusion etiology and direct workup towards causes of hemodynamic impairment, including postural hypotension, cardiac failure, or vertebral artery origin occlusion.

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Correspondence to Andrea Zini.

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All procedures performed in the studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Merli, E., Romoli, M., Gentile, M. et al. Bulbar watershed ischemic stroke: the comma-shaped sign—a case series. Neuroradiology 63, 1947–1950 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00234-021-02754-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00234-021-02754-3

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