Use of recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) for the treatment of acute cerebral infarction secondary to aortic dissection is challenging because of a narrow time window and potential life-threatening complications. An 80-year-old woman with right middle cerebral artery infarction was treated with rt-PA. Although she had no history, symptoms, or sign of aortic dissection, carotid CT angiography revealed aortic arch dissection. Mediastinal widening, which did not show on initial chest X-ray, developed on follow-up chest X-ray. This observation indicates that physicians should monitor patient symptoms for signs of aortic dissection during thrombolysis and perform chest X-ray or carotid angiography immediately after thrombolysis even if the patient has no symptoms or signs of aortic dissection on onset of acute cerebral infarction.

Citations

Citations to this article as recorded by  

• Successful intravenous thrombolysis for acute ischemic stroke caused by aortic dissection with severe hypofibrinogenemia: a case report and literature review
  Liming Cao, Xuming Huang, Fei-qi Zui
  International Journal of Neuroscience.2022; 132(9): 939.     CrossRef
• Clinical Usefulness of Common Carotid Artery Dissection in Carotid Ultrasound for the Diagnosis of Asymptomatic Aortic Dissection
  Seon-Jae Im, Hyun Young Park
  Journal of the Korean Neurological Association.2020; 38(1): 66.     CrossRef

Acute limb ischemia (ALI) is a serious condition requiring prompt intervention due to a sudden decrease in limb perfusion threatening limb viability. Treatment of ALI depends on the clinical status of the affected limb and patient comorbidities. Surgical therapy has been the historical standard of care for restoring limb perfusion; however, percutaneous endovascular intervention has been shown to be a promising treatment option in selected patients of ALI at high surgical risk. We report on a case of a 75-year-old man with ALI caused by thrombotic occlusion of the suprainguinal artery, successfully treated with endovascular therapy including stent insertion and thrombus aspiration and catheter-directed urokinase infusion in view of the clinical findings and imaging studies.

There are a variety of tunneled cuffed hemodialysis catheter-related complications including infection, thrombus formation, and catheter dysfunction. Catheter-related thrombus in right atrium is a rare complication and treatment guideline for atrial thrombus does not exist. A 3.0×2.8 cm sized giant atrial thrombus was found in a 35-year-old female hemodialysis patient. She was treated with catheter removal, thrombolysis and anticoagulation therapy. Size of atrial thrombus was gradually decreased and left ventricular systolic function was clearly improved after treatment. We experienced and reported a case of giant right atrial thrombus associated with tunneled cuffed hemodialysis catheter that was successful treated with thrombolytic agent and anticoagulant.