Acute Ischemic Stroke with Multiple Infarctions in the Posterior Circulation Complicating Diagnostic Coronary Angiography in an Octogenarian: A Case Report

Abstract

Diagnostic coronary angiography is sometimes complicated by acute stroke. An 82-year-old woman suddenly became unresponsive shortly after undergoing coronary angiography. Both of her pupils were dilated and unresponsive to light, and doll’s eye movements were absent. An emergency computed tomography showed no intracranial hemorrhage. Magnetic resonance imaging performed the following day revealed an acute infarction of the left thalamus, mid-brain, and cerebellum. Computed tomographic angiography showed total occlusion of the tip of the basilar artery. Multiple infarctions secondary to occlusion of the basilar artery tip as a complication of coronary angiography has not been reported in an octogenarian.

Keywords

• acute stroke
• basilar artery
• brain stem infarction
• coronary angiography