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Case Reports
. 2021 Dec 22;13(12):e20605.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.20605. eCollection 2021 Dec.

An Uncommon Cause of Acute Encephalopathy in Multiple Myeloma

Jawaher Al Zeyoudi  1 , Aisha Al Naqbi  2 , Deanne Kashiwagi  2 , Mustaqeem Siddiqui  3
Affiliations
Case Reports

An Uncommon Cause of Acute Encephalopathy in Multiple Myeloma

Jawaher Al Zeyoudi et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

Multiple myeloma commonly presents with bone pain, pathological fractures, hypercalcemia, anemia, and acute kidney injury. Altered mental status due to multiple myeloma is generally attributed to uremia, hypercalcemia, and hyperviscosity. In this report, we present a rare case of altered mental status due to high serum ammonia levels in a patient with advanced multiple myeloma and with no liver dysfunction.

Keywords: altered mental status; encephalopathy; hematologic malignancies; hyperammonemia; multiple myeloma.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. CT head without contrast showing normal gray-white matter differentiation of both cerebral hemispheres, and multiple small well-defined lytic lesions of the skull vault
CT: computed tomography
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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