Appearance of the infarct on the brain scan and the clinical syndromes considered appropriate to that appearance
| CT or MRI appearance | Clinical syndrome | Abbreviation |
| Large cortical MCA infarct (whole of the cortex supplied by the MCA plus adjacent white matter and part or all of the ipsilateral basal ganglia) or more than half of the MCA territory plus ACA or PCA territory | Total anterior circulation infarction | TACI |
| Medium sized cortical infarct (about half the MCA territory) | Partial or total anterior circulation infarction | PACI or TACI |
| Small cortical infarct (less than a quarter of the MCA territory) or any of the ACA territory | Partial anterior circulation infarction | PACI |
| Border zone cortical infarct between ACA and MCA or PCA and MCA territories | Partial anterior circulation infarction | PACI |
| Large (>1.5 cm) subcortical infarct (striatocapsular) | Total or partial anterior circulation  infarction | TACI or PACI |
| Small (<1.5 cm) subcortical infarct (lacunar) (including centrum semiovale infarcts) | Lacunar infarction | LACI |
| Cortical infarct in PCA territory | Posterior circulation infarction | POCI |
| Brainstem or cerebellar infarct (including small infarcts in the pons) | Posterior circulation infarction | POCI |
MCA=middle cerebral artery; ACA=anterior cerebral artery; PCA=posterior cerebral artery.