[Risk of cerebral infarct in young adults (author's transl)].

From 1978 to 1980, thirty-one patients aged forty years or less, had cerebral ischemic events as TIA, RIND or complete stroke. These patients have been studied, both clinically and with laboratory tests to assess the most common causes of their disorder. It was found that hypertension, excess smoking, diabetes and disorders of the lipid metabolism are the most common causes of the atherosclerosis, which plays a role in enhancing ischemic cerebro-vascular accidents during youth. The detection as well as the localization of the site of the ischemic lesions was difficult; only in six out of the seventeen patients examined it was possible to show angiographically a stenosis of one cerebral vessel. Comparison between the 31 patients and 31 subjects of the same age without clinical symptoms or neurological signs, showed a significant incidence of causes of atherosclerosis in the control subjects. In view of the limited number of controls it was not possible to predict a clearcut prognosis.