Emotional lability, pseudobulbar affect, emotionalism, or pathological crying and laughing all describe episodes of involuntary and uncontrollable crying and/or laughing, outside of socially appropriate circumstances and when it is incongruent with the patient’s emotional state1,2
Several different conditions can cause emotional lability, including stroke2
The pathology of stroke can affect many areas of the brain, damage to an area involved in emotional regulation may lead to dysfunction1,2
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Lacunar infarctions are small subcortical infarcts, <1.5 cm in diameter, within deep areas of the brain
The cerebellum is supplied with blood via three branches of the basilar artery – the posterior inferior cerebellar artery (PICA), the anterior inferior cerebellar artery (AICA), and the superior cerebellar artery (SCA).
The image shows how the blood supply of the brain is arranged.