Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome in a hypertensive patient with renal failure

Abstract

Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) is a clinical and neuroimaging entity characterized by headache, visual field deficits, changes in mentation and seizures, and by typical neuro-imaging features such as areas of sub-cortical edema, occasionally cortical, involving predominantly the occipital and parietal lobes of both hemispheres. Hypertension, uremia, immunosuppressive drugs neurotoxicity, preeclampsia or eclampsia, renal disease, and sepsis are the most common etiologies of PRES. Less common, it has been described in the setting of autoimmune disease. We report a case of PRES which was associated with hypertensive crisis in a patient with renal failure. Antihypertensive therapy and hemodialysis resulted in complete recovery.