Artery of Percheron Stroke: A Case Report With a Diagnostic Challenge

Artery of Percheron (AOP) is a unique anatomical variant of blood supply to the paramedian thalamus and also to the rostral part of the midbrain. It arises from the P1 part of the posterior cerebral artery. Obstruction of this artery accounts for the infarction of the bilateral thalamus with or with...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Curēus (Palo Alto, CA) CA), 2022-02, Vol.14 (2), p.e21939
Main Authors: Phate, Neha, Pawar, Twinkle, Andhale, Amol, Kumar Singh, Rohan, Talwar, Dhruv, Acharya, Sourya, Shukla, Samarth, Kumar, Sunil
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ataxia
Case reports
Coma
Internal Medicine
Laboratories
Medical diagnosis
Neurology
Stroke
Tomography
Veins & arteries
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Summary:Artery of Percheron (AOP) is a unique anatomical variant of blood supply to the paramedian thalamus and also to the rostral part of the midbrain. It arises from the P1 part of the posterior cerebral artery. Obstruction of this artery accounts for the infarction of the bilateral thalamus with or without the involvement of the midbrain. Symptoms of artery of Percheron infarction may differ with respect to the portion of the brain it supplies and its different anatomical variations. The various symptoms include memory loss, altered consciousness, vertical gaze palsy, and others. Diagnosis is difficult due to a variety of clinical presentations and differential diagnoses like viral infections or tumors. Artery of Percheron infarction rarely occurs, and early diagnosis is a challenge as it is often missed on a conventional CT scan and even on an MRI scan of the brain. Delay in diagnosis and initiation of treatment must be avoided in such cases. We report a case of this 57-year-old male who had vertical gaze palsy and irrelevant talks, which was evaluated further and found to be the artery of Percheron infarct on MRI brain and treated with antiplatelets after which the symptoms of the patient ameliorated, and he was discharged after five days of admission.
ISSN:2168-8184
2168-8184
DOI:10.7759/cureus.21939