Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) is a rare condition manifested by inflammation in certain areas of the brain. Rhabdomyolysis with acute kidney injury (AKI) complicated by PRES is rarely reported. A 26-year-old female presented with neurological symptoms, high blood pressure, and AKI. Her symptoms improved with blood pressure control, anticonvulsant drug medications, and renal replacement therapy. This case demonstrates that PRES should be considered in the differential diagnosis of patients who have rhabdomyolysis with AKI accompanied by neurological symptoms, including headaches and convulsions.
Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) and reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome (RCVS) are relatively uncommon neurological disorders. These two independent syndromes can be concurrent as a part of a continuum process; however, the specific mechanism is not well known. Although the relationship between RCVS and PRES is currently unclear, they could share a common pathophysiology. This case report aimed to determine the pathophysiology underlying the co-occurrence of PRES and RCVS in a patient with an acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Hashimoto’s encephalopathy (HE) is a heterogeneous encephalopathy with diverse clinical presentations. Here we report on a 69-year-old woman who presented with confusion, aphasia, fever, and focal ictal discharges. Cerebrospinal fluid analysis and a workup for other fever origins revealed no abnormality and a high level of thyroperoxidase antibody was detected, which findings led to a diagnosis of HE. The symptoms subsided after treatment. This study highlights the importance of considering HE in patients presenting with fever and abnormal EEG findings.
Nonconvulsive status epilepticus usually presents with altered mentation without distinct manifestations of seizures. It may be related with various medical disorders. Hashimoto’s encephalopathy is characterized by various neurological manifestations accompanied by high titers of anti-thyroid antibodies. Here, we report a patient with nonconvulsive status epilepticus caused by Hashimoto’s encephalopathy who showed a dramatic response to steroids.
Thiamine deficiency can cause peripheral polyneuropathy and Wernicke’s encephalopathy. Wernicke’s encephalopathy is characterized by ataxia, ophthalmoplegia, nystagmus, and confusion, and typically presents acute and rapidly progressive course, whereas peripheral neuropathy associated with thiamine deficiency manifests chronic and slowly progressive one. However, acute and rapidly progressive axonal polyneuropathy combined with Wernicke’s encephalopathy is quite rare and unusual. Here, we describe a patient with Wernicke’s encephalopathy who presented with acute bilateral axonal neuropathy.
Background: Triphasic waves are one of the electroencephalographic patterns that can be usually seen in metabolic encephalopathy. The aim of this study is to compare the clinical and electrophysiologic profiles between patients with and without triphasic waves in metabolic encephalopathy, and reassess the significance of triphasic waves in metabolic encephalopathy. Methods: We recruited 127 patients with metabolic encephalopathy, who were admitted to our hospital. We divided these admitted patients into two groups; those with and without triphasic waves. We analyzed the difference of duration of hospitalization, mortality rate during admission, Glasgow Coma Scale, severity of electroencephalographic alteration, and presence of acute symptomatic seizures between these two groups. Results: Of the 127 patients with metabolic encephalopathy, we excluded 67 patients who did not have EEG, and 60 patients finally met the inclusion criteria for this study. Patients with triphasic waves had more severe electroencephalographic alterations, lower Glasgow Coma Scale, and more acute symptomatic seizures than those without triphasic waves. After adjusting the clinical variables, Glasgow Coma Scale and acute symptomatic seizures were only significantly different between patients with and without triphasic waves. Conclusions: We demonstrated that patients with triphasic waves in metabolic encephalopathy had more significant impairment of the brain function.
Background: Diffusion-weighted image (DWI) might be useful to predict the prognosis of acute hypoxic encephalopathy. The aim of our study was to test whether the early change and extent of DWI abnormalities can be an indicator of the clinical outcome of hypoxic encephalopathy. Methods: Forty-four patients who were diagnosed as hypoxic encephalopathy due to the cardiorespiratory arrest were retrospectively identified. Clinical variables were determined, and the DWI abnormalities were counted by four areas: cortex, subcortical white matter, cerebellum and deep grey matter, and were divided into three groups by the extent of lesions. Prognosis was classified as 'poor' (Glasgow coma scale (GSC) at 30 days after arrest <9 or death) and 'good' (GSC at 30 days after arrest ≥9). Results: GCS at day 3 (p<0.001), presence of seizure (p=0.01), and presence of lesion (p<0.001) were significantly different in prognosis, but statistically there is no association with the extent of lesions and prognosis (p=0.26). Conclusions: Presence of early DWI changes could predict the clinical outcome of hypoxic encephalopathy after cardiorespiratory arrest.
Patients of chronic alcoholism may show many kinds of complications such as myopathy, nutritional problems,peripheral neuropathy, withdrawal seizure and encephalopathies. We report an unusual case of alcoholic myopathy diagnosed with typical laboratory and pathological findings initially manifested as acute reversible encephalopathy showing transient abnormalities on brain MRI.
Reversible posterior leukoencephalopathy syndrome (RPLS) is an acute encephalopathy, usually characterized by seizures, visual disorder, mental change and reversible posterior white and gray matter lesions on brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Conditions commonly associated with RPLS include acute renal failure, eclampsia, hypertension, immunosuppresion state, and use of intravenous immunoglobulin or chemotherapy, and additional contributing factors. We report the case of RPLS associated with cyclosporine use in lupus nephritis. In this case, it was not clearly elucidated which was main cause of RPLS. We could think RPLS developed maybe due to combined effect of cyclosporine and lupus nephritis.