Abstract
A 22-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital because of acute neurological abnormalities of eclampsia. She suddenly complained of severe headache and bilindness during prolonged delivery, became proggresively confused, and presented with generalized tonic convulsion. Neurological examination revealed quadriparesis, exaggerated tendon reflexes and bilateral Babinski signs in the lower extermities. She did not have toxemia, and her blood pressure was 150/100 mmHg.
Cranial CT scans showed symmetrical low density areas in the striatum and the cerebral white matter. A SPECT study demonstrated decreased up-take areas in basal gray and cortical borderzone regions. Cerebral angiography showed vasospasm in the M1 portion of the right middle cerebral artery and C1 portion of the internal carotid artery. Neurological symptoms gradually disappeared after immediate delivery. Follow-up CT scans, MRI and angiography became normal. Her neurological symptoms of eclampsia may have been caused by transient stagnant hypoxia due to vasospasm.
