Lacunar strokes, like all strokes, are damaged areas in the
brain. Like most strokes, they are caused when the flow of blood
to an area of the brain is interrupted. Lacunar strokes are
special because they involve small arteries near the center of
the brain. These small arteries feed deep brain structures such
as your basal ganglia, thalamus or pons. Imagine a branching
tree. A large branch from the tree trunk may gently divide into
two smaller branches, which divide into even smaller twigs. This
gradual size change is the way most blood vessels branch to
reach the outer areas of your brain. But near to the base of the
tree, a few very small branches may poke outwards sideways,
directly from the bark on the trunk. The arteries involved in a
lacunar stroke branch sideways from large brain blood vessels
just like this like a small branch on a large tree trunk.
Because of their direct connection to large arteries, these
vulnerable vessels are not shielded from peaks of high blood
pressure. High blood pressure is