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CADASIL, Hypertensive Hemorrhage

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This was a 58-year-old patient who presented

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with a Wallenberg syndrome.

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Wallenberg syndrome typically is due to

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involvement of the posterior inferior cerebellar

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artery infarction of the lateral medulla.

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As we scan through this patient

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on the FLAIR scans,

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we see indeed that the patient has an area of

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hemorrhage within the posterior aspect

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of the right side of the medulla,

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which is verified on the T2-weighted scan.

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Despite this, on the ADC map,

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we're not seeing any dark signal intensity other

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than the hemorrhage to suggest an acute infarction.

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As we scan further superiorly,

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we again see some involvement of the posterior

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pontine structures, as well as white matter

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disease in the periventricular and subcortical regions.

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However, this patient has, again,

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a pattern of involvement that is somewhat

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atypical for our usual small

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vessel ischemic changes,

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and that is that there is the more selective

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involvement of the anterior temporal lobe

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seen on this axial FLAIR scan.

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It is also verified on the T2-weighted scan

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and on the ADC map.

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So what are the unique features of this case?

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We have anterior temporal lobe involvement,

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which more clearly seen on the T2-weighted scan,

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appears to extend all the way to the

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periphery of the white matter

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in this pattern that is also seen on

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the ADC map as T2 shine through.

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Selective anterior temporal lobe involvement

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with disease could occur

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in association with trauma.

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And we talked about how the anterior temporal lobes

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will sometimes flash forward and bang up

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against the greater wing of the sphenoid in

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patients who have significant head trauma,

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in the trauma talk that was given previously.

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However,

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there is no hemorrhage involved

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or hemorrhage seen here.

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And this kind of fluffy involvement of the

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entire white matter bilaterally

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and it's fairly symmetrically,

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is what we typically will

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identify in patients with CADASIL.

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When we suspect CADASIL,

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we want to next look at whether or not there is

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subcortical involvement elsewhere,

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and also to look at the external capsule.

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So here we are at the level of the external

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capsule on the T2-weighted scan,

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and we'll bring the FLAIR scan

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up to that region as well.

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So the external capsule is seen here in this

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linear area of bilateral involvement

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on both the FLAIR scan,

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as well as the T2-weighted images.

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So with this combination,

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one would suggest that this patient has CADASIL

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and had a superimposed hemorrhagic lesion

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to the medulla, unrelated to the CADASIL.

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CADASIL is not a hemorrhagic condition.

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If we pull up the susceptibility-weighted scans,

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we can see that hemorrhage within the brainstem,

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the medulla, quite clearly,

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and we do not see other areas other than what is

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identified here in the thalamus,

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as well as the basal ganglia region.

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So this patient likely has hypertension and had

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a hypertensive bleed into the medulla

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with superimposed hemorrhages,

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old in age in the deep gray matter

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from hypertensive disease.

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So just because you have hypertension

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doesn't mean you can't have CADASIL,

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and just because you have CADASIL,

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doesn't mean you can't have hypertension.

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So this is a case

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in which there is two diseases going on,

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the CADASIL, as well as hypertensive hemorrhages.

Report

Description

Faculty

David M Yousem, MD, MBA

Professor of Radiology, Vice Chairman and Associate Dean

Johns Hopkins University

Tags

Vascular

Neuroradiology

MRI

Brain

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