RESEARCH ARTICLE


Cervical Epidural Abscess Mimicking as Stroke - Report of Two Cases



Jagan Mohana Reddy Velpula*, Harinder Gakhar, Kohilavani Sigamoney, Rajendra Bommireddy
Department of Orthopaedics, Royal Derby Hospital, Derby, UK


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Creative Commons License
© Velpula et al.; Licensee Bentham Open.

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.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Department of Orthopaedics, Royal Derby Hospital, Derby, UK; Tel: 0044 7877461862; E-mail: orthojagan@gmail.com


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.

Keywords: : Discitis, stroke, cervical epidural abscess..