4/ The interesting thing about his symptoms are that they're stereotyped. Most vascular events are not stereotyped, maybe you get events that localize to the same hemisphere or vascular territory, but the exact same events??
Arm exercise and then dizziness??
5/ Dopplers were ordered.
which demonstrate ⬇️
Uh oh, no flow past this occlusion in the L ICA!
6/ Contralaterally, things aren't really looking great either.
Thats a very tight stenosis of the R ICA.
7/ TCDs demonstrate intracranial collateralization through the AComm, with inverted flow in the L A1.
So the L anterior circulation is largely supplied by the R critically stenosed ICA.😱😱
8/ But…. The guy did not present with transient right arm weakness or aphasia- symptoms of poor perfusion to the left hemisphere
& while you could make a case for artery-to-arty embolization from the R ICA to the R hemisphere to explain the L arm parestheisas.... why recurrent?
9/ And why the dizziness?
The answer…?
Inverted flow in the left vertebral artery!! And bidirection flow in the proximal basilar.
10/ What was happening?
MRA (not published in the issue, so I borrowed an example from our friends @radiopaedia.) confirmed severe stenosis of the proximal subclavian. His symptoms?
A subclavian steal effect!
11/ If subclavian steal is confusing, I like this diagram.
All suggested by a simple non-invasive, radiation free workup.
Patient underwent smoking cessation, lipid control and revascularization.
12/ 12/ But wait!
There was one more thing!
Lets go back to the very first image... He had one more stroke risk factor.
Can you tell? (I know some of you probably did in the first poll!)
13/ Yes! An irregular heart rate suggestive of (EKG confirmed) occult a fib! All that. Just from ultrasound. Isn’t it amazing what neurosonography can do?!
2/ Start with 'is the AMS appropriate for the degree of critical illness?'
Often it is.
But do some digging, did the AMS precede the illness? ...Is it more than what you would expect?
Start with this flow chart⬇️
3/ Is there AMS+ Fever+ headache/meningismus/photophobia or seizures??
(AMS + fever is usually septic encephalopathy)
Add the other findings= reasonable concern for CNS infection... start here⬇️; remember that CNS infections can cause ICP issues and infectious vasculopathy!
1/ A 34 yo M presents with worsening confusion and seizures. He is febrile.
He is intubated and transferred to the NeuroICU.
A #continuumcase about a cause that’s probably low (not) on your DDx.
2/ I’m not even going to ask if you want an LP next, because “Fever, Status, AMS” = I wanted that LP way before this MRI.
You get one and the protein is 80, TNC #155, and glucose 80 (serum 147). Cultures and HSV PCR are pending.
3/ We are clearly in the realm of “inflammation.”
W/ the leptomeningeal enhancement, I’m not ruling bacterial meningitis out (empiric abx until culture back!), but the glucose is reassuringly high for that. Viral meningoencephalitis is a top consideration so bring on acyclovir!
1/ A 75 yo M is brought in by his wife bc he is forgetful & “continues to drop things.”
She notes he's increasingly tearful, forgetful, and has an odd movement in his right hand.
MRI, EEG, LP were all normal.
In the room he keeps doing this with his face:
A #ContinuumCase
2/ What do you worry about most?
3/ Any of these would be reasonable. You could certainly frame this as a rapidly progressive dementia (BTW there is an excellent continuum article on the subject, this is one of the most visited on the website!)
He has been paranoid and confused in the previous weeks.
MRI 👇. A large abdominal mass was identified on imaging.
You know what this is, but do you know why we treat it the way we do?
A #ContinuumCase on immunomodulators
2/ ok ok, everyone gets to vote on what's going on before we dive in on how we are going to treat it and why.
so what do you think?
3/ Anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis is caused by anti-neural antibodies against the cell surface proteins (in this cause the NMDA receptor) this causes in a stereotyped way a progression through
⭐️Psychosis
⭐️Seizures
⭐️Sympathetic storming
⭐️Orofacial dystonias