Transient ischemic attack (TIA) secondary to subdural hematoma

Subdural hematomas many sometimes clinically resemble Transient Ischemic Attacks (TIA's). We present three cases which were initially evaluated for, diagnosed as having and were treated for TIA's, but later were found to have subdural hematomas. As in case one, patients with subdurals may have antecedent head trauma which they may or may not recall. Patients presenting with symptoms resembling TIA's need a complete neurologic evaluation. The differential diagnosis for TIA's includes arteriosclerotic extracranial vascular disease, cardiac emboli, migraine, seizure disorder, and mass lesions. Since the prognosis and treatment differs one needs to determine the etiology of the symptoms before treatment is initiated. Specifically, other diagnoses must be excluded prior to anticoagulation therapy, as evidenced by case 2.