Remote infarct
Read Your Scan Editorial Team·Last updated
Written from published radiology references and reviewed for plain language. Not written or signed by a physician, and not a diagnosis. How we write these pages →
In plain language
An old area of damage from a blood-supply problem that happened long ago and has already healed as far as it will. Remote here means "in the past", not "far away" — the radiologist is dating the finding, not locating it.
Upload your MRI, CT or X-ray — de-identified in your browser — and every finding is mapped onto your images and explained without jargon.
Where you'll see this
Brain CT and MRI findings, and occasionally reports on other organs.
Your report may word it “Old infarct”, “Chronic infarct”, “Remote infarction” or “Chronic infarction”. These mean the same thing.
Questions worth asking your doctor
- Compared with my last scan, is this better, worse, or the same?
- How much change would matter enough to do something about it?
- When should the next scan be, and what would you be looking for?
How often does this turn up?
Remote infarcts turn up frequently on brain scans in older adults, very often on scans ordered for something else entirely — a fall, a headache, a dizzy spell. The word remote is doing something readers regularly misread: it means in the distant past, not far away. The radiologist is telling the referring doctor that this damage is old, healed, and not what brought you in today.
Does it mean something is wrong?
Finding one is not an emergency, because by definition the event is long over. What it does mean is worth taking seriously in a different way: it is evidence that a blood-supply problem happened at some point, and that raises the question of whether the conditions that allowed it are still present. Many remote infarcts are silent — the person never knew, and had no symptoms anyone connected to a stroke at the time. That is not a reason for alarm, but it is a reason for the conversation about blood pressure, heart rhythm, cholesterol and diabetes to actually happen.
What to do with it
The finding usually prompts a look at vascular risk rather than any treatment of the infarct itself, since healed damage cannot be undone. Depending on your history that can mean blood pressure checks, blood tests, a heart-rhythm check to look for atrial fibrillation, and a discussion about medication. If you have never had this conversation and a scan has just described a remote infarct, it is a reasonable thing to raise with your doctor directly.
Frequently asked questions
- Does a remote infarct mean I had a stroke and did not know?
- Often, yes — these are sometimes called silent infarcts for exactly that reason. The damaged area may have been small, or in a part of the brain where the loss caused no obvious symptom. It is a common finding and not, by itself, a cause for alarm.
- Does remote mean it is far away in my brain?
- No, and this is the most frequent misreading. Remote is being used about time, not distance: it means old. Where the damage sits is described separately, by naming the part of the brain involved.
- Can a remote infarct be treated?
- The damage itself is healed and cannot be reversed. What is treatable is the risk of another one, which is why the finding shifts attention to blood pressure, heart rhythm, cholesterol, diabetes and smoking rather than to the old area on the scan.
Comparison with an earlier scan
Where this word comes up
Still worried about what your report says?
Upload your scan (de-identified in your browser) and your radiologist's report, and every finding is mapped onto the images, explained in plain language and scored. Informational only — not a diagnosis.
Read Your Scan is informational only — not a medical diagnosis, and not a substitute for a licensed radiologist or your doctor. If you have urgent symptoms, seek care.