Rinsho Shinkeigaku (Clinical Neurology)

Brief Clinical Note

Late-onset hemorrhagic infarction in patients with patent foramen ovale: Reports of two cases

Yasuyuki Ito, M.D.1), Akira Mori, M.D.1), Kiminobu Yonemura, M.D.1), Yoichiro Hashimoto, M.D.1), Teruyuki Hirano, M.D.2) and Makoto Uchino, M.D.2)

1)Department of Neurology, Kumamoto City Hospital
2)Department of Neurology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kumamoto University

We presented here two patients with hemorrhagic infarction occurred during subacute phase of brain embolism. The patients were 71-year-old and 73-year-old men who suffered from brain infarction of the left posterior cerebral artery and right middle cerebral artery territory, respectively. Both of them were diagnosed as having cryptogenic stroke and patent foramen ovale. After transferred to rehabilitation hospitals taking aspirin for a secondary prevention of stroke, they developed hemorrhagic infarction at day 17 and day19, respectively. Their blood pressure remained within normal range throughout acute and subacute phase. Although most of hemorrhagic infarction occurs within 24 hours of stroke onset, some patients develop symptomatic hemorrhagic infarction even after 10 days. We need to be careful about late-onset hemorrhagic infarction, because many patients are now transferred early to rehabilitation hospitals to facilitate dedicated systematic rehabilitation.

(CLINICA NEUROL, 47: 589|592, 2007)
key words: patent foramen ovale, aspirin, rehabilitation hospitals, hemorrhagic infarction

(Received: 1-Feb-07)