Cerebral cavernous malformation: a diagnostic challenge in a young patient with intracerebral haemorrhage

Kristijonas Milinis1, Mohammed Mohammed, James Edward Dyer

  • 1Department of School of Medicine, Univeristy of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.

BMJ Case Reports
|July 31, 2012
PubMed

An 18-year-old Caucasian man presented with a sudden onset right hemiparesis. On examination, he had objective evidence of an upper motor neuron lesion affecting the right side of his body. CT scan showed a left thalamic haemorrhage. MRI, gradient echo and cerebral angiogram showed no structural lesion and the cause of the bleeding was ultimately attributed to the use of cocaine. During the subsequent 2 years the patient had two further similar episodes, with an MRI eventually demonstrating a cerebral cavernous malformation. This was excised using frameless stereotactic surgery, following which the patient made an uneventful recovery.

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