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A 52 year-old woman presented with headaches, confusion and multiple strokes over the past 2 months. |
| Cerebral Vasculitis: Cerebral Angiogram, Left Internal Carotid Artery injection (Lateral view). Note that the carotid artery is widely patent. Normally, arteries taper as they travel distally. However, upon close inspection of the distal branches, note the beaded appearance of the vessel. This appearance is consistent with cerebral vasculitis, which can occur as an isolated CNS syndrome or as part of a more widespread systemic vasculitis. Often, brain and meningeal biopsy are needed to confirm the diagnosis. Cerebral vasculitis typically presents as an encephalopathy with superimposed focal deficits from multiple ischemic strokes. The syndrome can be confused with embolic infarctions and atherosclerotic intracranial disease. The latter is more prominent in individuals of Asian and African American descent compared to Caucasians. |
Revised
11/30/06
Copyrighted 2006. David C Preston