Casey Albin, MD Profile picture
Mar 30, 2023 13 tweets 5 min read Read on X
1/
Just how much can ultrasonography reveal about the neurovascular health of the brain?

A whole freaking lot!!

A #ContinuumCase about a man with transient dizziness after doing heavy lifting in the yard. @ContinuumAAN @LyellJ
2/
There are a lot of way this case could unfold…
Was he just dehydrated?
Did he have a dissection?
Have a PE?

But with more questions, it becomes clear that this has happened before.

Whenever he is doing heavy lifting, his left arm becomes tingly & then the room spins 🤔
3/
#NeuroTwitter, what's going on?
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?!

All about it in this issue of @ContinuumAAN
journals.lww.com/continuum/Full…

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More from @caseyalbin

Oct 23
1/
I once heard that a fever in the ICU was a "fever of too many origins."

Same can be said altered mental status/encephalopathy!

We put together a comprehensive approach to these challenging patients for #SeminarsinNeurology

A thread with our approach!
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39137901/Image
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⬇️ Image
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! Image
Read 5 tweets
Sep 20
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. Image
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!
Read 11 tweets
Sep 3
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 Image
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!)

journals.lww.com/continuum/full…
Read 12 tweets
Aug 29
1/
25-yo M p/w status epilepticus.

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 Image
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
Read 18 tweets
Aug 20
1/
A 30 yo woman p/w 2 days of worsening paraparesis, left arm paresthesias and urinary retention. No change in vision.

Exam: hyperreflexic in the legs bilaterally+ sensory level at T10.

MRI C/T Spine + MRI Brain. And you find this … what to do for this #continuumcase? Image
2/
Just looking at the scan, history, and her demographic, what do you think?
3/
There are several things that might make you think MS:
➡️short segments of spinal cord lesions
➡️periventricular lesions.

However, the lesions look a bit funny, right?
Read 15 tweets
Jun 27
1/ A 63 yo W presented after a fall down stairs. She’s initially confused and then collapses.

Her left pupil is dilated and non-reactive! CT scan👇

Our NSGY friendsevacuate the blood 🙏, and she much improved … initially.

But then she has fluctuating aphasic.

What now? Image
2/
Subdurals are an increasing problem given the aging population and anticoagulation use.

Primary evacuation is recommend when thickness > 10mm or shift >5mm regardless of GCS

+for those patients who are significantly symptomatic regardless of size (our patient meets both)
3/
Neurologic complications after subdurals are common.

What do you think is going on in this #continuumcase
Read 12 tweets

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