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Case Reports
. 2018 Feb 27:2018:bcr2017222892.
doi: 10.1136/bcr-2017-222892.

The man that lost (part of) his mind

Finlay Brown  1 , Djamil Vahidassr  2
Affiliations
Case Reports

The man that lost (part of) his mind

Finlay Brown et al. BMJ Case Rep. .

Abstract

An 84-year-old man presented to the emergency department following recurrent falls over several weeks and onset of new left-sided weakness. CT of the brain revealed a large air cavity (pneumatocoele) in the right frontal lobe thought to be secondary to an ethmoidal osteoma communicating through the cribriform plate allowing air to be forced into the skull under pressure. Subsequent MRI confirmed these findings and also revealed a small focal area of acute infarction in the adjacent corpus callosum. The patient had a prolonged hospital stay, declined neurosurgical intervention and was discharged home on secondary stroke prevention.

Keywords: ear, nose and throat/otolaryngology; movement disorders (other than parkinsons); neuroimaging; stroke.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
CT showing osteoma in paranasal sinus causing defect resulting in right pneumatocoele.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Sagittal view MRI showing right frontal air-filled cavity.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Diffusion-weighted MRI showing area of acute infarction.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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