Postpartum cerebral angiopathy: an important diagnostic consideration in the postpartum period

Panagiotis A Konstantinopoulos; Soha Mousa; Ramzi Khairallah; George Mtanos

doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2004.03.028

Postpartum cerebral angiopathy: an important diagnostic consideration in the postpartum period

Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2004 Jul;191(1):375-7. doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2004.03.028.

Authors

Panagiotis A Konstantinopoulos¹, Soha Mousa, Ramzi Khairallah, George Mtanos

Affiliation

¹ Department of Medicine, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA.

PMID: 15295399
DOI: 10.1016/j.ajog.2004.03.028

Abstract

A 32-year-old woman, gravida 4, para 2, presented with a severe headache 5 days after she had a vaginal delivery with epidural anesthesia. Nine days later she had neurologic symptoms develop. Magnetic resonance imaging and cerebral angiogram were abnormal with evidence of a vasculitis consistent with postpartum cerebral angiopathy. The patient received both methylprednisolone and cyclophosphamide pulses with improvement of her symptoms. This is an important diagnosis for obstetricians to consider because it may result in serious neurologic damage if it is not diagnosed and treated early.

Publication types

Case Reports

MeSH terms

Adult
Cerebral Angiography
Cerebral Hemorrhage / diagnosis
Cerebral Hemorrhage / etiology
Female
Humans
Infarction, Posterior Cerebral Artery / diagnosis
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Migraine Disorders / diagnosis
Puerperal Disorders / diagnosis*
Vasculitis, Central Nervous System / diagnosis*