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Today’s ward round
A mechanic with confusion and right-sided weakness
  1. Evan C Edmond1,2,
  2. Christopher Haighton3,
  3. Edward J Botcherby3,
  4. Alexander Thompson1,2,
  5. Wilhelm Kueker1,
  6. Richard Butterworth1,3,
  7. Onajite Kousin-Ezewu3
  1. 1 Department of Neurosciences, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, UK
  2. 2 Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
  3. 3 Department of Neurology, Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Milton Keynes, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Evan C Edmond, Department of Neurosciences, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, UK; eedmond{at}gmail.com

https://doi.org/10.1136/practneurol-2020-002862

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    A 47-year-old man presented as a thrombolysis call. A family member had visited that morning, finding him confused with difficulty speaking and dragging his right leg and arm. There had been difficulty finding words for several days. He had been seen at his local general practice twice in the preceding 4 months for daily headaches. He was a non-smoker with no known vascular risk factors, and took no regular medication. He lived alone and worked as a mechanic. A long-term relationship with a female partner had ended 6 months previously.

    On examination, he was dysarthric and disorientated in space and time. His right arm and leg were weak proximally (MRC grade 4). There was patchy alopecia of his scalp and beard.

    Initial MR brain imaging showed multifocal T2 hyperintensity with restricted diffusion in the left frontal/insular cortex and left internal capsule (figure 1A,B) consistent with acute infarcts. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) examination showed a lymphocytosis (58 cells/µL) and elevated protein (1.69 g/L). With the combination of stroke, chronic symptoms and inflammatory CSF in a young man, we suspected cerebral vasculitis, and …

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors ECE and CH collated clinical data and drafted the manuscript. WK reviewed and selected appropriate images. ECE produced figures and supplemental video materials. All authors drafted and approved the final manuscript.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned. Externally peer reviewed by William Whiteley, Edinburgh, UK.