Rare Diseases Symptoms Automatic Extraction

"Heart appearance" infarction of the pons: a case report.

[locked-in syndrome]

"Heart appearance" on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a unique presentation of bilateral medial medullary infarction. In contrast, "heart appearance" infarction of the pons has rarely been featured in the medical literature. In this paper, we present a case of "heart appearance" infarction of the pons with its MRI and magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) findings. The patient was an 87-year-old male who manifested with weakness in the four extremities. Later, bulbar palsy and tetraplegia became apparent, and he eventually was trapped in locked-in syndrome. Brain MRI disclosed a "heart appearance" lesion in the pons, which was high on diffusion-weighted image MRI and low on apparent diffusion coefficient map MRI. Brain MRA demonstrated that the basilar artery remained intact. A diagnosis of fresh, bilateral pontine infarction with a "heart appearance" was made. After the treatment he was transferred to another hospital for long-term care. This case suggests that bilateral ischemic involvement of the pons is possible even in the context of an intact basilar artery.

Diseases presenting "weakness" symptom

  • achondroplasia
  • adrenomyeloneuropathy
  • alexander disease
  • aniridia
  • aromatase deficiency
  • coats disease
  • congenital toxoplasmosis
  • epidermolysis bullosa simplex
  • esophageal adenocarcinoma
  • familial hypocalciuric hypercalcemia
  • familial mediterranean fever
  • focal myositis
  • gm1 gangliosidosis
  • hydrocephalus with stenosis of the aqueduct of sylvius
  • inclusion body myositis
  • locked-in syndrome
  • lymphangioleiomyomatosis
  • malignant atrophic papulosis
  • neuralgic amyotrophy
  • pendred syndrome
  • pleomorphic liposarcoma
  • pyomyositis
  • pyruvate dehydrogenase deficiency
  • sneddon syndrome
  • systemic capillary leak syndrome
  • thoracic outlet syndrome
  • triple a syndrome
  • typhoid
  • von hippel-lindau disease
  • waldenström macroglobulinemia
  • werner syndrome
  • x-linked adrenoleukodystrophy

This symptom has already been validated