1. Anoxic Brain Injury Presenting as Pseudosubarachnoid Hemorrhage in the Medical Intensive Care Unit
- Author
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O'Dene Lewis, Marie N. Fidelia-Lambert, Alicia Thomas, Vishal Poddar, Samina Afreen, and Supo Folaranmi
- Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty ,Subarachnoid hemorrhage ,business.industry ,lcsh:Medical emergencies. Critical care. Intensive care. First aid ,Case Report ,lcsh:RC86-88.9 ,Critical Care and Intensive Care Medicine ,medicine.disease ,030218 nuclear medicine & medical imaging ,Cerebral edema ,nervous system diseases ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Medical intensive care unit ,Emergency medicine ,medicine ,Anoxic encephalopathy ,cardiovascular diseases ,Intensive care medicine ,business ,Anoxic brain injury ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery - Abstract
Anoxic encephalopathy is frequently encountered in the medical intensive care unit (ICU). Cerebral edema as a result of anoxic brain injury can result in increased attenuation in the basal cisterns and subarachnoid spaces on computerized tomography (CT) scans of the head. These findings can mimic those seen in acute subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) and are referred to as pseudosubarachnoid hemorrhage (pseudo-SAH). Pseudo-SAH is a diagnosis critical care physicians should be aware of as they treat and evaluate their patients with presumed SAH, which is a medical emergency. This lack of awareness could have important clinical implications on outcomes and impact management decisions if patients with anoxic brain injury are inappropriately treated for SAH. We describe three patients who presented to the hospital with anoxic brain injury. Subsequent CT head suggested SAH, which was subsequently proven to be pseudo-SAH.
- Published
- 2017