[Leucoaraiosis: correlation of arterial hypertension and lacunar infarct (study of 80 patients)].

We studied 80 patients with lacunar strokes in the attempt to find a relation between lacunar strokes, arterial hypertension and leucoaraiosis. Leucoaraiosis was found in 47 patients (58,75%) on CT-scan. Our findings emphasize that arterial hypertension is the most important risk factor of leucoaraiosis (p less than 0.003); but we did not find a relation between the admission value of systolic or diastolic blood pressure and leucoaraiosis. Our data do not confirm the hypothesis that leucoaraiosis may be the result of a confluence of several lacunar infarcts, although we found that a rarefaction of cerebral white matter was associated with arterial hypertension.