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Sildenafil improves scotoma after posterior cerebral infarctions: a case report

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Abstract

A 65-year-old man had an embolic stroke of both posterior cerebral arteries in 2002. Two years later he noted rapid improvement of the residual bilateral inferior quadrant anopia whenever he took 25 mg sildenafil. The improvement of scotomas was verified by visual field examinations and persisted reproducibly for 3–7 days. An overlay of a subtraction of functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) during visual stimulation before and after medication onto a T1-weighted MRI of the patient revealed additional activations along the margins of the old cerebral infarctions. These findings and the additional results of a perfusion MRI suggest that phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitors may prove beneficial in the rehabilitative course after ischemic strokes.

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Fig. 1
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Abbreviations

BA:

Brodman area

FDG:

18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose

fMRI:

Functional magnetic resonance imaging

MTT:

Mean transit time

PET:

Positron emission tomography

rCBF:

Regional cerebral blood flow

ROI:

Region of interest

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Johannes Gutenberg-University, Langenbeckstrasse 1, 55101, Mainz, Germany

    Peter Schlindwein

  2. Department of Neurology, Hospital Idar-Oberstein, Idar-Oberstein, Germany

    B. M. Eicke

  3. Department of Neuroradiology, Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz, Germany

    P. Stoeter

  4. Department of Neurology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany

    M. Dieterich

Authors
  1. Peter Schlindwein
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  2. B. M. Eicke
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  3. P. Stoeter
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  4. M. Dieterich
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peter Schlindwein.

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Schlindwein, P., Eicke, B.M., Stoeter, P. et al. Sildenafil improves scotoma after posterior cerebral infarctions: a case report. J Neurol 257, 674–677 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-009-5434-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-009-5434-6

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