ABSTRACT
A 41-year-old woman presented with recurrent dizziness. After an attack of dizziness, she felt edematous sensations in her hands. However, according to photographs taken during the attack, the edema on the back of the patient's hands and fingers appeared mild. Laboratory examinations revealed a low C4 and C1 inhibitor (INH) activity. A direct sequencing analysis of C1INH revealed a pathogenic gene mutation. Based on these results, she was diagnosed with hereditary angioedema (HAE) type 1. These findings indicate that HAE can cause recurrent dizziness, and it should therefore be included in the differential diagnosis in patients with recurrent neurologic symptoms, even in the absence of severe edema.
Subject(s)
Dizziness/drug therapy , Dizziness/pathology , Hereditary Angioedema Types I and II/pathology , Hereditary Angioedema Types I and II/therapy , Tranexamic Acid/therapeutic use , Vertigo/drug therapy , Vertigo/pathology , Adult , Antifibrinolytic Agents/therapeutic use , Diagnosis, Differential , Dizziness/genetics , Female , Hereditary Angioedema Types I and II/diagnosis , Hereditary Angioedema Types I and II/genetics , Humans , Treatment Outcome , Vertigo/geneticsABSTRACT
We report the case of a 77-year-old woman with diabetic chorea, which presented as hemiballism of the right limbs. Initial blood examination revealed that sugar and hemoglobin A1c levels were 732â mg/dl and 12.2%, respectively. Thus, a diagnosis of hyperglycemic hyperosmolar syndrome was made at a previous hospital. Ballism of the right limbs developed after 10 days and progressively worsened. After a month, the patient was admitted to our hospital. Brain MRI (axial T1-weighted imaging) revealed a high-signal-intensity area in the left striatum. Dopamine transporter SPECT demonstrated reduced 123I-ioflupane binding in the bilateral striatum with left side predominance. Although haloperidol and risperidone were ineffective for her involuntary movement, chlorpromazine had a little effect. Levodopa and gabapentin combination treatments were effective in decreasing the symptoms. It was considered that dopamine antagonist was the medical treatment for diabetic chorea and that levodopa could worsen neurological symptoms such as chorea-ballism. However, in our case, levodopa treatment was effective.