Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2011 Jul;6(3):210-2.

A case report of pseudo-subarachnoid hemorrhage

Adnan Agha  1 , Mohammad Al-Hakami
Affiliations
Case Reports

A case report of pseudo-subarachnoid hemorrhage

Adnan Agha et al. Maedica (Bucur). 2011 Jul.

Abstract

Background: The authors report an unusual case of the radiological appearance of diffuse subarachnoid hemorrhage on brain computed tomographic (CT) scan in a patient with post-resuscitation anoxic encephalopathy.

Clinical presentation: A young man with chronic renal failure collapsed unconscious while starting hemodialysis and was revived after resuscitation for almost one hour. He was shifted to intensive care unit and subsequent CT scan after 3 days showed a picture compatible with diffuse subarachnoid hemorrhage. The subsequent lumbar puncture showed no evidence of subarchnoid hemorrhage while the attenuation at the basal cistern on CT brain was consistent with pseudosubarachnoid hemorrhage. A four vessel angiography done subsequently confirmed anoxic encephalopathy.

Conclusion: Anoxic encephalopathy can mimic diffuse subarachnoid hemorrhage on CT.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Both authors contributed equally in this work

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. CT Brain showing subarachnoid hemorrhage like appearance
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Spiegel SM, Fox AJ, Vinuela F, et al. Increased density of tentorium and falx: a false positive CT sign of subarachnoid hemorrhage. J Can Assoc Radiol. 1986;37:243–247. - PubMed
    1. Avrahami E, Katz R, Rabin A, et al. CT diagnosis of non- traumatic subarachnoid haemorrhage in patients with brain edema. Eur J Radiol. 1998;28:222–5. - PubMed
    1. Cucchiara B, Sinson G, Kasner SE, et al. Pseudo- Subarachnoid Hemorrhage. Report of three cases and review of the literature. Neurocrit Care. 2004;1:371–4. - PubMed
    1. You JS, Park S, Park YS, et al. Pseudo-subarachnoid hemorrhage. Am J Emerg Med. 2008;26:521–521. - PubMed
    1. Misra V, Hoque R, Gonzalez-Toledo E, et al. Pseudo-subarachnoid hemorrhage in a patient with acute cerebellar infarction. Neurol Res. 2008;30:813–5. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources