MELAS Missed for Years: Stroke-Like Lesions Are No Indication for Brain Biopsy

A 56-year-old female with a history of chronic alcoholism until age 38 y with a relapse between ages 45 and 46 y developed seizures, psychosis, and hemianopia to the left at age 46 y. Imaging revealed a right parieto-occipital lesion with intralesional bleeding. Five months after the first lesion sh...

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Main Author: J. Finsterer
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2019-01-01
Series:Case Reports in Neurological Medicine
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2019/9312451
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author J. Finsterer
author_facet J. Finsterer
author_sort J. Finsterer
collection DOAJ
description A 56-year-old female with a history of chronic alcoholism until age 38 y with a relapse between ages 45 and 46 y developed seizures, psychosis, and hemianopia to the left at age 46 y. Imaging revealed a right parieto-occipital lesion with intralesional bleeding. Five months after the first lesion she developed a second left parieto-occipital lesion, resulting in cortical blindness. Extensive workup, including brain biopsy, was noninformative. Retrospectively, the occipital abnormalities were identified as stroke-like lesions (SLLs). Further manifestations of the mitochondrial disorder (MID) were tremor, cerebral atrophy, bilateral basal ganglia, calcification, glaucoma, hypoacusis, short stature, hyperostosis frontalis, hyperthyroidism, sick-sinus syndrome and AV-block-1, and myopathy. According to the Walker criteria, a possible MID was diagnosed. In conclusion, adult-onset MID may be missed for years, SLLs may be easily misinterpreted entailing brain biopsy, and psychosis may contribute to a reduced impact for proper workup of a MID.
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spelling doaj-art-129f41dcaa0b4f7387f11ec31fd2aa462025-02-03T06:12:34ZengWileyCase Reports in Neurological Medicine2090-66682090-66762019-01-01201910.1155/2019/93124519312451MELAS Missed for Years: Stroke-Like Lesions Are No Indication for Brain BiopsyJ. Finsterer0Krankenanstalt Rudolfstiftung, Messerli Institute, Vienna, AustriaA 56-year-old female with a history of chronic alcoholism until age 38 y with a relapse between ages 45 and 46 y developed seizures, psychosis, and hemianopia to the left at age 46 y. Imaging revealed a right parieto-occipital lesion with intralesional bleeding. Five months after the first lesion she developed a second left parieto-occipital lesion, resulting in cortical blindness. Extensive workup, including brain biopsy, was noninformative. Retrospectively, the occipital abnormalities were identified as stroke-like lesions (SLLs). Further manifestations of the mitochondrial disorder (MID) were tremor, cerebral atrophy, bilateral basal ganglia, calcification, glaucoma, hypoacusis, short stature, hyperostosis frontalis, hyperthyroidism, sick-sinus syndrome and AV-block-1, and myopathy. According to the Walker criteria, a possible MID was diagnosed. In conclusion, adult-onset MID may be missed for years, SLLs may be easily misinterpreted entailing brain biopsy, and psychosis may contribute to a reduced impact for proper workup of a MID.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2019/9312451
spellingShingle J. Finsterer
MELAS Missed for Years: Stroke-Like Lesions Are No Indication for Brain Biopsy
Case Reports in Neurological Medicine
title MELAS Missed for Years: Stroke-Like Lesions Are No Indication for Brain Biopsy
title_full MELAS Missed for Years: Stroke-Like Lesions Are No Indication for Brain Biopsy
title_fullStr MELAS Missed for Years: Stroke-Like Lesions Are No Indication for Brain Biopsy
title_full_unstemmed MELAS Missed for Years: Stroke-Like Lesions Are No Indication for Brain Biopsy
title_short MELAS Missed for Years: Stroke-Like Lesions Are No Indication for Brain Biopsy
title_sort melas missed for years stroke like lesions are no indication for brain biopsy
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2019/9312451
work_keys_str_mv AT jfinsterer melasmissedforyearsstrokelikelesionsarenoindicationforbrainbiopsy