Cerebral cortical microinfarct

What it means

An infarct located on the outer layer of the cerebrum that can only be observed microscopically. Cerebral microinfarcts are typically defined as sharply delimited microscopic regions of cellular death or tissue necrosis, sometimes with cavitation (that is, a central fluid-filled cavity). The term microscopic denotes that these lesions are not visible by gross inspection of the brain but seen by light microscopy. The term infarct is most commonly used for ischemia-related tissue loss, and indeed the pathologic appearance of microinfarcts is consistent with that of known ischemic infarctions.

See figure 1 of PMID:10867785.

Rare diseases that can present with this1

The range is how often this sign appears among people diagnosed with each disease — it is not a probability of having any of them. Many of these signs also occur in common, non-rare conditions. A sign on this page is a conversation to have with a clinician, not a conclusion.

Part of the broader category