Posterior leukoencephalopathy syndrome in poststreptococcal acute glomerulonephritis

Abstract

Reversible posterior leukoencephalopathy syndrome is an increasingly recognized brain disorder most commonly associated with hypertension, toxemia of pregnancy, or the use of immunosuppressive agents. Its clinical features include headache, decreased alertness, mental abnormalities, such as confusion, diminished spontaneity of speech, changed behavior ranging from drowsiness to stupor, seizures, vomiting, and abnormalities of visual perception like cortical blindness. Magnetic resonance imaging shows edematous lesions primarily involving the posterior supratentorial white matter and corticomedullary junction. We describe a 7-year-old uremic girl who developed neurological symptoms of posterior leukoencephalophaty syndrome during the course of acute poststreptococcal glomerulonephritis. Since the symptoms first appeared 24 h after a hypertensive crisis and the patient was uremic at the time of symptoms, we decided to report this patient to discuss the differential diagnosis of neurological symptoms developing during the course of acute poststreptococcal glomerulonephritis.