Abstract
Stroke is one of the most common neurological diagnoses, presenting with a wide range of conditions including weakness, sensory impairment, gait disturbance, confusion, and ataxia. Initial workup should include a detailed history and physical examination as well as head imaging. Early imaging with computed tomography may present a false negative, so other diagnostic testing like magnetic resonance imaging and angiography may be required. In this case, a 50-year-old male patient with a history of smoking and alcohol use was admitted to the emergency department with recurring episodes of gait imbalance, nausea, blurred vision, and tinnitus and was initially misdiagnosed with benign positional paroxysmal vertigo. Unfortunately, as time passed, his condition worsened with diplopia and dysgraphia. Through the use of interventional angiography, a thromboembolic event was detected in the bilateral vertebral arteries, and appropriate stroke care could be provided.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Saver JL. Time is brain—quantified. Stroke. 2006;37(1):263–6.
Newman-Toker DE, Moy E, Valente E, Coffey R, Hines AL. Missed diagnosis of stroke in the emergency department: a cross-sectional analysis of a large population-based sample. Diagnosis (Berl). 2014;1(2):155–66. https://doi.org/10.1515/dx-2013-0038.
León Cejas L, Mazziotti J, Zinnerman A, Nofal P, Fernández Pardal M, Bonardo P, Reisin R. Misdiagnosis of acute ischemic stroke in young patients. Medicina (B Aires). 2019;79(2):90–4.
Costa A, et al. A patient with (initially) non-persistent vertigo - a posterior circulation stroke case. Cureus. 2022;14(1):e21468. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.21468.
Guzik A, Bushnell C. Stroke epidemiology and risk factor management. Cerebrovascular Disease Continuum (Minn). 2017;23(1):15–39. https://doi.org/10.1212/CON.0000000000000416.
Pare JR, Kahn JH. Basic neuroanatomy and stroke syndromes. Emerg Med Clin North Am. 2012;30(3):601–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emc.2012.05.004.
Buck B, et al. Stroke mimics: incidence, aetiology, clinical features and treatment. Ann Med. 2021;53(1):420–36. https://doi.org/10.1080/07853890.2021.1890205.
Powers WJ, et al. Guidelines for the early management of patients with acute ischemic stroke: 2019 update to the 2018 guidelines for the early management of acute ischemic stroke: a guideline for healthcare professionals from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. Stroke. 2019;50(12):e344–418. https://doi.org/10.1161/STR.0000000000000211
Herpich F, Rincon F. Management of acute ischemic stroke. Crit Care Med. 2020;48(11):1654–63. https://doi.org/10.1097/CCM.0000000000004597.
Hasan TF, et al. Overview of acute ischemic stroke evaluation and management. Biomedicine. 2021;9(10):1486. https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines9101486.
Smajlović D, Sinanović O. Sensitivity of the neuroimaging techniques in ischemic stroke. Med Arh. 2004;58(5):282–4.
Simonsen CZ, et al. Which imaging approach should be used for stroke of unknown time of onset? Stroke. 2021;52(1):373–80. https://doi.org/10.1161/STROKEAHA.120.032020.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Baratta, J.M. (2023). Stroke Misdiagnosed as Benign Positional Paroxysmal Vertigo. In: Tohid, H., Baratta, L.G., Maibach, H. (eds) The Misdiagnosis Casebook in Clinical Medicine. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-28296-6_54
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-28296-6_54
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-28295-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-28296-6
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)