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clinical problem-solving
In this Journal feature, information about a real patient is presented in stages (boldface type)
to an expert clinician, who responds to the information, sharing his or her reasoning with
the reader (regular type). The authors’ commentary follows.
From the Departments of Emergency A 34-year-old woman presented to a community hospital with aphasia. Her husband
Medicine, Children’s Hospital of Boston
(J.S.E.) and Beth Israel Deaconess Medi-
reported that her condition had been normal until 2 hours earlier, when her arms and
cal Center (J.A.E.) — both in Boston; the legs suddenly shook for several seconds. Immediately afterward, she was unable to
Department of Neurology, University of speak or to move her limbs on the right side. There was no incontinence or tongue
California at San Francisco, San Francisco
(S.A.J.); the Department of Emergency
biting.
Medicine, Denver Health Medical Cen-
ter, Denver (D.T.V.); and the Department Although the initial shaking in all four limbs is suggestive of bilateral central ner-
of Veterans Affairs Health Services Re-
search and Development Center of Excel-
vous system dysfunction, the subsequent focal nature of the deficits, including aphasia
lence and the Department of Internal and weakness on the patient’s right side, suggests a unilateral lesion, probably in
Medicine, University of Michigan Medi- the left hemisphere of the brain, affecting the corticospinal tracts and language
cal School — both in Ann Arbor, MI (S.S.).
Address reprint requests to Dr. Edlow
centers. In addition, the acute alteration in her ability to speak is more common
at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, with a stroke or a seizure than with a toxic or metabolic cause. If the shaking re-
1 Deaconess Rd., CC2, Boston, MA 02215, flected a generalized seizure, the postictal dysfunction of the left hemisphere would
or at jedlow@bidmc.harvard.edu.
suggest an underlying lesion such as a tumor, focal infection, or stroke. The ab-
N Engl J Med 2010;362:2114-20. sence of tongue biting and incontinence and the brevity of the spell make a seizure
Copyright © 2010 Massachusetts Medical Society. less likely but do not reliably rule it out.
The patient had a history of migraines, frequent urinary tract infections, multiple
episodes of epistaxis, depression, and miscarriage. Her medications included venla-
faxine; she was not taking oral contraceptive pills. She was married and had four
children. There was no history of smoking, use of illicit drugs, or alcohol abuse, and
the patient had not traveled recently.
Patients with migraine can present with focal neurologic dysfunction either as part
of their migraine syndrome or as the aura preceding it; these “complicated” mi-
graine spells may be mistaken for stroke or seizure. In this case, migraine should
be viewed as a diagnosis of exclusion.
Two elements of the medical history are suggestive of vascular disorders that
present at an early age. Recurrent episodes of epistaxis suggest a bleeding diathesis
involving platelet dysfunction that could increase the risk of intracerebral hemor-
rhage. Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia can present with recurrent nose-
bleeds as well as with pulmonary, hepatic, and cerebral arteriovenous malforma-
tions. Certain forms of systemic vasculitis, such as Wegener’s granulomatosis, can
lead to vascular events in the brain as well as to epistaxis. Although miscarriages
are relatively common in the general population, they can be a marker of rheuma-
tologic disorders, such as the antiphospholipid-antibody syndrome, which is also
associated with stroke in young persons.
Medications, including over-the-counter preparations, should always be consid-
ered as a possible cause of altered mental status. Venlafaxine, a commonly pre-
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clinical problem-solving
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The n e w e ng l a n d j o u r na l of m e dic i n e
therapy in this young woman with an ischemic could not control her oral secretions and was intu-
stroke affecting the dominant hemisphere. Intra- bated to protect the airway. The emergency physi-
venous recombinant tissue plasminogen activa- cian interpreted a postintubation chest radiograph
tor (rt-PA) is currently approved by the Food and as normal (Fig. 2). A CT angiogram of the head
Drug Administration for the treatment of is and neck revealed a filling defect suggestive of a
chemic stroke within 3 hours after onset; how- clot in the left middle cerebral artery (Fig. 3).
ever, a recent study has shown that rt-PA therapy Angiography was performed and intraarterial
can be effective when administered up to 4.5 hours rt-PA was administered, followed by endovascu-
after the onset of symptoms. Thus, some stroke lar mechanical retrieval of the clot. After the pro-
centers would now consider this patient eligible cedure, blood flow through the middle cerebral
to undergo intravenous thrombolysis. Even if local artery was restored, but the patient’s hemiparesis
protocols excluded her as a candidate for intra- persisted. The radiologist interpreted the chest
venous rt-PA therapy on the basis of the time radiograph that had been obtained earlier in the
elapsed since the onset of symptoms, she would emergency department as showing a possible
still be eligible for several intermediate endovas- pneumonia affecting the right middle lobe (Fig. 2).
cular interventions, including mechanical embo The patient was given intravenous levofloxacin
lectomy and intraarterial thrombolysis, although and was admitted to the intensive care unit.
the effects of such procedures on morbidity have
not been well established. The patient’s condi- Vascular imaging in patients with suspected is
tion should be considered a treatable neuro- chemic stroke allows visualization of occluded
logic emergency warranting immediate evalua- large vessels of the brain. It can also rapidly iden-
tion and therapy. tify other potential causes of stroke, such as
carotid-artery dissection and disease of the aortic
The patient was not given thrombolytic therapy; arch. Either magnetic resonance imaging or CT-
instead, treatment with intravenous heparin was based angiography is useful, although CT is used
started, and the patient was transferred to the more often because it is widely available in emer-
emergency department of a tertiary care hospital. gency departments and can be completed more
On arrival, 5 hours after the onset of symptoms, rapidly.
she still could not follow commands and remained In this case, recanalization of the culprit ar-
nonverbal and unable to move her right side. She tery was successfully achieved through endovas-
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clinical problem-solving
Downloaded from www.nejm.org on June 26, 2010 . Copyright © 2010 Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.
The n e w e ng l a n d j o u r na l of m e dic i n e
Downloaded from www.nejm.org on June 26, 2010 . Copyright © 2010 Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.
clinical problem-solving
When an ischemic stroke occurs in a young ischemia (annual risk, 0.92%) and brain abscess
patient without the traditional vascular risk fac- (annual risk, 0.32%).8,12 Given these potential
tors, alternative causes must be considered. In consequences, most pulmonary arteriovenous
retrospect, several clues could have expedited the malformations are corrected by means of percu-
correct diagnosis of this patient’s condition. One taneous embolization. In 4 to 23% of patients
such clue was the recurrent epistaxis, and earlier with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia, arte-
recognition of its relevance might have altered riovenous malformations are also present in the
the evaluation. Another clue was the potential brain, where they have the potential to rup-
significance of the abnormality noted on the pa- ture.12,13 Approximately 10% of patients with
tient’s chest radiograph. Whereas aspiration pneu- hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia die pre-
monia is common in patients with stroke, both maturely or have major disability because of
the shape and the location of the lesion were, in these complications.14
retrospect, not typical of this diagnosis. Con- Whereas screening for cranial arteriovenous
sideration of an alternative cause of the radio- malformations is controversial owing to the high
graphic abnormality might have prompted ear- morbidity associated with intervention for iden-
lier use of chest CT, which ultimately revealed tified cranial abnormalities, consensus guide-
the arteriovenous malformation. Findings on the lines from the Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangi-
echocardiographic bubble study, initially inter- ectasia Foundation International recommend
preted as consistent with an atrial septal defect screening for pulmonary arteriovenous malfor-
or a patent foramen ovale, were only later recog- mations in all patients with hereditary hemor-
nized to be more consistent with a pulmonary rhagic telangiectasia, since these lesions can be
arteriovenous malformation. With the first two treated.7,9 The optimal screening test is contro-
conditions, the bubbles characteristically appear versial. Chest radiographs and blood oxygen
in the left atrium sooner than they do with a measurements are insensitive. Contrast echocar-
pulmonary arteriovenous malformation.5,6 diography may detect small lesions that do not
Whereas a pulmonary arteriovenous malfor- require treatment, but it is the standard form of
mation is present in 30 to 75% of patients with testing in North America.6 Chest CT is an excel-
hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia, depend- lent test but requires ionizing radiation.
ing on the genotype, 80 to 90% of all pulmonary Patients who present with signs and symp-
arteriovenous malformations occur in patients toms suggestive of hereditary hemorrhagic tel
with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia.7-9 angiectasia, as well as family members of pa-
Thus, in this case, the diagnosis of hereditary tients in whom the disorder is diagnosed, should
hemorrhagic telangiectasia was quickly estab- undergo genetic screening. Heterozygous muta-
lished, once the finding on the chest CT scan tions in five different genes that encode compo-
had been correctly identified as a pulmonary nents of the transforming growth factor β signal-
arteriovenous malformation.10 Hereditary hemor ing pathway involved in blood-vessel development
rhagic telangiectasia, which occurs in approxi- have been associated with hereditary hemor-
mately 1 in 7500 persons, is also associated with rhagic telangiectasia.9 However, genetic testing
vascular malformations in other organs.11 Tel has false negative results in 75 to 92% of pa-
angiectasias in the gastrointestinal tract can tients who have whole-exon deletions and inser-
lead to bleeding from the stomach. tions or mutations in regulatory regions or in
Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia can unknown genes.15 Patients who have positive
also lead to more severe complications. Owing test results or whose clinical presentation sug-
to their vascular fragility, pulmonary arterio- gests hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia should
venous malformations can cause hemothorax be referred to a specialist for coordination of
and hemoptysis.10,11 In the absence of a normal care and family testing.
capillary bed to filter particulate matter as it
traverses the lung, pulmonary arteriovenous mal- No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was
reported.
formations may have neurologic sequelae. Com- We thank Drs. Robert White, Jr., and Katherine Henderson for
plications of paradoxical emboli include cerebral reviewing an earlier draft of this article.
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clinical problem-solving
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