Posterior circulation CVAs

1. What are areas of the brain that are supplied by the PCA? Nerves supplied by PCA?
2. What is the clinical presentation of a PCA stroke?
3. What clinical syndrome is caused by occlusion of the CNs supplied by the PCA?
4. What parts of the brain are supplied by the vertebral and basilar arteries?
5. What are symptoms of vertebrobasilar strokes?

Answers:
1. Upper brainstem, inferior temporal lobe, medial occipital lobe, CN 3, CN 4.
2. Visual field cuts, prosopagnosia (can't read faces), palinopsea (abnormal visual images), alexia, transcortical sensory aphasia.
3. Weber's syndrome: oculomotor palsy with contralateral hemiplegia.
4. Midbrain, pons, medulla, cerebellum, posterior and ventral cerebral hemispheres.
5. Vertigo, nystagmus, bilateral abnormalities of motor function, absence of cortical signs, crossed signs (deficit on ipsilateral face, contralateral body).