RESEARCH ARTICLE
Cervical Epidural Abscess Mimicking as Stroke - Report of Two Cases
Jagan Mohana Reddy Velpula*, Harinder Gakhar, Kohilavani Sigamoney, Rajendra Bommireddy
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2014Volume: 8
First Page: 20
Last Page: 23
Publisher ID: TOORTHJ-8-20
DOI: 10.2174/1874325001408010020
Article History:
Received Date: 16/8/2013Revision Received Date: 20/12/2013
Acceptance Date: 7/1/2014
Electronic publication date: 24 /1/2014
Collection year: 2014

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/) which permits unrestrictive use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Background:
Stroke is a common provisional diagnosis in patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) with unilateral neurological deficit. Cervical epidural abscess (CEA) may also present clinically with a unilateral neurological deficit.
Objects:
To highlight the inherent problems with diagnosing cervical epidural abscess and possible consequences of delay in diagnosis.
Case Report:
We would like to highlight two cases provisionally diagnosed as stroke. Both cases turned out to be cervical epidural abscesses. The delay in diagnosis and treatment led to suboptimal outcome in both cases.
Summary:
Cases with suspected stroke who deteriorate while under treatment or whose diagnosis is doubtful should have MRI whole spine in order to avoid potential complications.