A 50 yo man presented to the ED with acute onset aphasia. He is not able to report a history, but BP Is 215/95.
Non-contrast HCT reveals this bleed…
What do you want to see next?
2/ What do you most want next?
3/ Cortical bleeds are IMHO way more fun than basal ganglia hemorrhages.
Even though BP was elevated, that is true of many patients who have non-hypertensive etiologies of their bleeds!
In these patients you must consider:
🩸CAA
🩸Endocarditis
🩸Atypical aneurysms
🩸RCVS....
4/ And ... Venous Sinus Thrombosis!
In this case, even just a closer review of the non-con provides a very important clue.
A cord sign! A hyperdense signal within a venous sinus (in this case transverse / sigmoid sinus)
5/ Note that there are numerous venous variants, but the two important cortical veins to remember are the Vein of Trolard (top) drains to saggital sinus; and Vein of Labbe (low) drains to transverse sinus.
6/ Intracerebral hemorrhage is present in 1/3 of patients.
But you should think of CVT if the IPH is:
7/ While both CTV and MRV with contrast (NOT TOF MRV, poor resolution, proned to artifacts) offer high sensitivity for CVT detection, contrasted MRI can better demonstrate the parenchymal changes.
8/ You may even find a brush sign on paramagnetic-sensitive MRI sequences, particularly if there is a deep CVT!
9/ In this case, both CTV and MRV demonstrated thrombus within the transverse sinus, sigmoid sinus, IJ, and vein of Labbe.
10/ A thoughtful approach to laboratory testing and further workup is detailed in the @ContinuumAAN article, which you should check out!
But let’s skip to treatment. Whats your next move:
11/ While there is mounting evidence for the safety of efficacy of DOACs in CVT, guildelines recommend starting with a parenteral anticoagulant.
The ESO guidelines have a weak recommendation for LMWH > heparin for a non-sig trend towards 🔼 functional outcomes & 🔽 mortality.
12/ With unfractionated heparin, the goal should be to have the drug in the therapeutic range quickly, even if ICH Is present.
13/ For patients who worsen despite medical treatment, EVT is an option although the exact efficacy is still debated.
TO-ACT, a trial of endovascular therapy, has been difficult to interpret due to a small sample size.
14/ For an incredible discussion about this fascinating and rare form of stroke, check out Dr Liberman’s (@ava_liberman) review, which is available in the latest issue of @ContinuumAAN
1/ Back from #AANAM and missing the learning?
Enter #ContinuumCase
A 75-yo👩 presents to clinic.
- 1 month ago: monocular blurred vision in L👁️
- C U/S: 70% to 80% ICA stenosis
- On ASA 81 & Atorva 20mg; LDL 132 mg/dL b/f lipid therapy
How do you proceed?
[not her MRA]
3/ Management of a Hot Carotid (or, in this case, a chilled carotid) can get spicy 🌶️!
This is an area in neurology where we (actually!) have trial data, but things get complicated based on the patient's:
⚧️Gender
🔞Age
💊Medical risk factors
⏲️Timing from index ischemic event
A 67 yo man with a known, active cancer presents to the ED. His wife reports that he has had worsening headaches, forgetfulness, & confusion. Today, he was increasingly sleepy which triggered the presentation.
2/ Neurologic complications in cancer patients are tricky. They can be due to
✨Malignant lesions
✨Systemic complications of disease
✨Paraneoplastic disorders
✨Treatment Side effects
3/ You absolutely must have a systemic approach to these patients. I think the best framework for this is in this review by @holroyd_katie, Dan Rubin and Henrikas Vaitkevicius: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34619783/