Chronic subdural hematoma-unsual cause of headache in a patient with chronic myeloid leukemia treated with high-dose imatinib mesylate: A rare case report with review of literature

Abstract

Head injury is considered one of the single most important causes of subdural hematoma. Other cause include bleeding diasthesis. We report here a case of 70-year-old female patient with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) presenting with bilateral chronic subdural hematoma after an incremental high-dose of imatinib mesylate (IM) due to loss of complete molecular response. IM is useful to treat a wide range of diseases, including Philadelphia chromosome-positive CML, as it has high tolerability and low incidence of minor side effects. Hemorrhage is a rare complication of IM. IM is associated with reduced α2-plasmin inhibitor and platelet dysfunction. This case report emphasizes on the need to consider chronic subdural hematoma as atypical cause of headache in a patient of CML taking high-dose IM.

Keywords

• Chronic myeloid leukemia
• imatinib mesylate
• subdural hematoma