Stroke Training and Awareness Resources (STARs)


What is a Total Anterior Circulation Infarct?

The Oxford Community Stroke Project (OCSP) classification describes the clinical presentation of stroke and is useful in clinical practice and research.

Using this system, stroke patients are first classified as TACS (where ‘S’ denotes Syndrome), PACS, POCS or LACS until cerebral imaging allows the differentiation between infarction and haemorrhage.

Infarcts were subdivided according to clinical presentations when their symptoms were maximal. Stroke subtype were classified as follows:

Stroke Subtype Percentage (%) of infarcts
Total Anterior Circulation Infarcts (TACI) 17%
Partial Anterior Circulation Infarcts (PACI) 34%
Posterior Circulation Infarcts (POCI) 24%
Lacunar Infarcts (LACI) 25%

Page last reviewed: 09 Feb 2021