Microinfarct

A Microinfarct is a microscopic stroke less than 1 millimeter in size. Microinfarcts can be found in 25-50% of all elderly deceased persons. Microinfarcts may be the second most important cause of dementia, after Alzheimer's disease.

Microinfarcts are microscopic lesions, of cellular death or tissue necrosis, which are a result of pathologies involving small vessels. Such pathologies are arteriosclerosis or cerebral amyloid angiopathy. Microinfarcts take longer to affect neuronal death progress, at up to 28 days, rather than hours.