Subtle visual impairment caused by temporoparietal infarction: a case report

Abstract

Cerebral infarction is associated with various symptoms. Considering its high volume of patients who present with various symptoms, the emergency department is an unfavorable environment for detecting atypical symptoms. A man in his 50 s visited the emergency department because he had experienced subtle discomfort when changing lanes while driving. Several coincidental events could have led to a misdiagnosis, such as the patient’s first-ever use of diabetes medication on the day before symptom onset and the patient’s first attempt at driving after a 2-week hiatus. A detailed neurological examination and magnetic resonance imaging revealed right temporoparietal infarction; accordingly, the patient received antiplatelet therapy and was discharged. Clinicians increasingly rely on high-tech imaging equipment, rather than history-taking and physical examination approaches. However, clinicians must decide which tests to perform. This report illustrates that when patients present with mild or ambiguous symptoms, clinicians should place greater emphasis on history-taking and physical examination to avoid misdiagnosis.