Perisulcal infarcts: lesions caused by hypotension during increased intracranial pressure.

A pattern of cortical necrosis surrounding the cerebral sulci and similar to ulegyria was found in 5 patients. The lesions were widely disseminated in all parts of the hemispheric cortex, affecting mostly the deep cortex of several adjacent sulci. They were hemorrhagic in 3 patients, ischemic in the others. Each patient had suffered a severe brain injury and became comatose thereafter. Increased intracranial pressure was evident from clinical findings, necropsy changes, or both. While in coma, each patient had at lease one episode of hypotension. The data suggest that perisulcal infarcts are a manifestation of diminished vascular perfusion during a period of increased intracranial pressure.