[Angiographic features of anoxic encephalopathy in the acute phase: a case report]

We present an angiographic feature of anoxic encephalopathy in the acute phase. A 68-year-old woman suddenly presented with deep coma. Examinations of her blood and electrocardiography did not reveal the origin of consciousness disturbance, and computed tomographic (CT) scans demonstrated no significant findings. We immediately performed cerebral angiography because we suspected brain stem infarction. A 3-vessel study (bilateral carotid and left vertebral angiography) revealed remarkable delays in cerebral circulation time or arteriovenous circulation time, although it did not show occlusion of cerebral vessels. The follow-up brain magnetic resonance (MR) images revealed anoxic encephalopathy, which might be derived from transient cardiac arrest. The patient has been in a vegetative state for one year. Although many reports have described CT scans and MR images of anoxic encephalopathy in the acute or subacute phases, there have been no reports about the angiographic features. We found remarkable delays in cerebral circulation time in the acute phase of anoxic encephalopathy, which was considered to be caused by cytotoxic edema from severe hypoxia or ischemia.