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Document Type

Original Article

Abstract

Acute neurological diseases requiring hospitalization are unusual in young women. Some of these diseases are unique to pregnancy and the post-partum period including pre-ecclampsia. Others such as cerebral venous thrombosis, ischemic stroke, intracranial hemorrhage, etc. are indirectly related to pregnancy and seen less frequently. To explore the causes of neurological emergencies in this specific patient population, we performed a radiological audit of young women in pregnancy and postpartum period presenting with neurological emergencies. Material and methods: This was a retrospective study carried in the Department of Radiology, Liaquat National Hospital over one year from January 2013 till January 2014, after approval by ethical review committee of the hospital. Patients presenting with neurological signs and symptoms during pregnancy or in postpartum period (up to 6 weeks) requiring medical referral were included in the study. Result: A total of 18 patients presented with acute neurological emergencies during postpartum period. Imaging was done in all those patients including CT and MRI while MRV was done in selective patients. Age range was between 20-33 years. The commonest radiological diagnosis was PRES in 9 patients. Other patients had cerebral venous thrombosis (4 patients), intra-cerebral hemorrhage (2 patients), infarction (1 patient), ADEMS (1 patient) and arterio-venous malformation (1 patient). Conclusion: Young women in pregnancy and post-partum period can present with a variety of acute neurological emergencies. In our series, PRES was the commonest diagnosis.

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