Argatroban therapy (60 mg/day) for 7 consecutive days improved neurological symptoms of progressing stroke due to severe stenosis of internal carotid artery

Abstract

A 61-old-year man was admitted to our hospital because of transient motor aphasia. On admission, he was free from neurological symptoms, and diffusion-weighted MRI was normal. He was diagnosed with TIA and received argatroban and edarabone. After 2 hours, motor aphasia recurred. After 50 hours, JCS was III-100, and right hemiplegia had developed. Although the clinical symptoms appeared to be caused by diffuse lesions in the middle cerebral artery region, diffusion-weighted MRI showed left frontotemporal infarction, indicating considerable clinical-diffusion mismatch. One month later, his symptoms improved. Argatroban therapy for 7 consecutive days may be effective to manage cases of clinical-diffusion mismatch.