Varicella zoster encephalitis mimicking stroke

Physicians need to consider a broad differential diagnosis when evaluating a patient presenting with a suspected stroke. The rates of overdiagnosis of stroke in studies of consecutive patients vary from 19% to 31%. The two most common stroke mimics are hypoglycemia and seizure, but several etiologie...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American journal of emergency medicine 2014-06, Vol.32 (6), p.687.e5-687.e7
Main Authors: Alonso, Joaquín Valle, MD, Fonseca, Javier, MD, López, Daniel, MD, Ochoa, Juan José, MD
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aphasia
Brain - pathology
Deoxyribonucleic acid
Diagnosis, Differential
DNA
Drug therapy
Emergency
Emergency medical care
Encephalitis
Encephalitis, Varicella Zoster - diagnosis
Encephalitis, Varicella Zoster - pathology
Enzymes
Hospitalization
Humans
Infections
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Medical imaging
Mortality
Nervous system
Neuroimaging
NMR
Nuclear magnetic resonance
Patients
Stroke
Stroke - diagnosis
Viral infections
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Summary:Physicians need to consider a broad differential diagnosis when evaluating a patient presenting with a suspected stroke. The rates of overdiagnosis of stroke in studies of consecutive patients vary from 19% to 31%. The two most common stroke mimics are hypoglycemia and seizure, but several etiologies have been reported.We reported the case of a 41-year-old patient presenting to the emergency department with aphasia and right-side hemiparesis, initially suspected to have stroke and finally diagnosed of varicella-zoster encephalitis.
ISSN:0735-6757
1532-8171
DOI:10.1016/j.ajem.2013.12.019