[A case of left occipital lobe hemorrhage in a patient with progressive systemic sclerosis: evaluation of cerebral angiography and histology]

No Shinkei Geka. 2000 Nov;28(11):1003-7.
[Article in Japanese]

Abstract

Involvement of the central nervous system is uncommon in progressive systemic sclerosis, with only 2 reported cases associated with intracerebral hemorrhage detected by neuroimaging. A 55-year-old woman with a 10-year history of scleroderma presented with left occipital lobe hemorrhage manifesting as headache and vomiting. She had no signs of hypertension, diabetes mellitus and hyperlipidemia. CT and MRI, on admission, showed left occipital lobe hemorrhage with ventricular rupture and acute left subdural hematoma. Serial cerebral angiography was performed on day 0, day 7 and day 14, and found no evidence of aneurysm, arteriovenous multiformation or tumor stain in the left occipital lobe. However, the bilateral anterior cerebral arteries showed increasing segmental narrowing suggestive of vasculitis. Histological examination of a section from the brain cortex adjacent to the hemorrhage revealed no evidence of vasculitis, fibrinoid degeneration or amyloid deposition. Focal vasculitis may have occurred secondary to the homorrhagic lesion.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Cerebral Angiography*
  • Cerebral Hemorrhage / diagnostic imaging
  • Cerebral Hemorrhage / etiology*
  • Cerebral Hemorrhage / pathology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Middle Aged
  • Occipital Lobe*
  • Scleroderma, Systemic / complications*
  • Vasculitis, Central Nervous System / etiology