Spinal epidural hematoma as a stroke mimic

Spinal epidural hematoma is a rare disease with an annual incidence of 1 per 1,000,000 individuals;1 however, it is a critical stroke mimic.2 As patients with spinal epidural hematoma typically present with acute hemiparesis,3,4 such a presentation is not expected to be detected by a computed tomography (CT) scan of the brain, which is the most common neuroimaging choice in patients with an activated stroke code. Indeed, there are several case reports in which patients with spinal epidural hematoma were misdiagnosed with ischemic stroke and treated with anti-thrombotic therapy, including intravenous thrombolysis,5 –10 occasionally leading to hematoma expansion.
Source: Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases - Category: Neurology Authors: Source Type: research