1991 Volume 1991 Issue Supplement42 Pages 67-72
We report two patients with cerebral infarction, and severe vertigo at the onset, died in spite of emergency treatment.
The first patient was a 66-years-old man who had been suffering from aplastic anemia and hypertension. Though those chronic diseases were well controlled, he had a vertiginous attack of tinnitus in the right ear. Otolaryngological and neurological examination revealed the disturbance of the periperhal vestibular type without any neurological sign at the beginning. On the next day the patient died of a the second stroke.
The second patient was a 63-year-old woman, and her chief co m plaints were vertigo, vomiting and headache. A brain X-ray CT and neurological examination were almost normal 4 days after the first attack. The result of neuro-otological test showed a disturbance of the peripheral vestibular type after 12 days. However, the patient died of reccurrence of brain stroke 13 days later.
It is necessary to differentiate transient ischemic attacks from a peripheral vestibular disturbance associated with vertigo but without any other neurological sign.
