Rinsho Shinkeigaku (Clinical Neurology)

Case Report

An elder case of neurosarcoidosis associated with brain infarction

Hideaki Nakagaki, M.D.1), Jun-ichirou Furuya, M.D.1), Tomoyuki Nagata, M.D.1), Satoshi Kotorii, M.D.1), Sukehisa Nagano, M.D.1), Takuya Higashino, M.D.2), Shun-ichi Yoshikai, M.D.2), Kazuo Nakanishi, M.D.3) and Takeshi Yamada, M.D.1)

1)Departments of Neurology, 2)Neurosurgery and 3)Pathology, Aso-Iizuka Hospital

A 75-year-old woman with sarcoidosis developed sudden weakness of the left upper and lower limbs. Neurological examination revealed left-sided hemiplegia, hyperreflexia with pathological reflexes and hypesthesia. She was disoriented and euphoric. Diffusion-weighted brain MRI showed high intensity lesions in the right parietooccipital lobes. Electroencephalogram showed diffuse slowing of the background activity. Serum lysozyme increased to 18.4 mg/ml, CSF protein to 51 mg/dl. After admission, she presented psychotic manifestation followed by a progressive disturbance of consciousness. Epithelioid granulomas without caseous necrosis were present in the biopsied lymph node and specimens from the occipital cortex, indicating neurosarcoidosis. Necrosis was also present in the sampled brain tissue. The psychotic symptoms and consciousness disturbance rapidly ameliorated after the treatment with oral prednisolone, 40 mg/day. Neurosarcoidosis should be considered even in an elder case of sarcoidosis complicated with a stroke.

(CLINICA NEUROL, 44: 81|85, 2004)
key words: neurosarcoidosis, brain infarction, encephalopathy, prednisolone

(Received: 27-Apr-03)