Table of Contents
Washington University Experience | VASCULAR | Edema - Cerebral | 7A0 Case 7 History
Case 7 History ---- The patient was a 63 year old man with a history of known hypertension for which he was medication noncompliant. In June of 1978 the patient was hospitalized for sudden loss of consciousness. He was brought to the emergency room where his blood pressure was 300/150. Examination at that time revealed a severely obtunded patient. Pupils were fixed and dilated. He was given Lasix, Decadron, nitroprusside and his blood pressure normalized. At that point his respirations became very shallow. Pupils were mid-position and fixed. There was no response to ice water calorics. Fundoscopic examination revealed subhyaloid and flame hemorrhages bilaterally. Corneal and gag reflexes were absent. The patient had no response to any type of stimulus and no spontaneous movements. Deep tendon reflexes were absent and Babinski reflexes were not present. The patient's examination remained unchanged except for intermittent hypertension (300/150). The patient expired 48 hours after admission. ---- Autopsy demonstrated a 1750 gram brain with massive hemorrhage arising from the left basal ganglia with extension into ventricular system with marked edema accompanied by cerebellar infarction.
