Singh Karanbir, Gupta Rajesh, Kamal Haris, Silvestri Nicholas J, Wolfe Gil I
Department of Neurology, University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, The State University of New York, 100 High Street, Building D, Buffalo, NY 14203-1126, USA.
Department of Neurology, University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, The State University of New York, 100 High Street, Building D, Buffalo, NY 14203-1126, USA.
J Clin Neurosci. 2015 Mar;22(3):592-4. doi: 10.1016/j.jocn.2014.10.005. Epub 2014 Dec 23.
The appearance of posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) after blood transfusion is rare and has only been reported in three patients to our knowledge. We report a fourth patient with PRES secondary to blood transfusion. A 36-year-old woman with a history of menorrhagia presented to the emergency department with severe fatigue. She had a hemoglobin of 1.7 g/dl and received four units of red blood cells over 15 hours. On day 6 post-transfusion she returned with confusion, headache and a generalized tonic-clonic seizure. The MRI of her brain was consistent with PRES. The following day her confusion worsened, repeat MRI of the brain showed new T2-weighted lesions. Over next 10 days her mental status gradually improved close to her baseline. A repeat MRI of the brain showed resolution of the T2-weighted lesions. The clinical presentation, radiological findings and disease progression in our patient was consistent with PRES. Other than the blood transfusions, there were no apparent risk factors for PRES. The prior three patients with post-transfusion PRES have been reported in middle-aged women with uterine fibroids. It is suspected that these patients have a subacute to chronic anemic state due to ongoing menorrhagia. It is interesting to note that no cases of PRES post-transfusion have been reported in the setting of acute blood loss, such as from trauma. It is postulated that an abrupt increase in hemoglobin causes a rapid rise in blood viscosity and loss of hypoxic vasodilation. Subsequent endothelial damage and brain capillary leakage results in PRES. This constellation of changes may not occur after transfusion in patients with more acute blood loss.
输血后出现可逆性后部脑病综合征(PRES)的情况较为罕见,据我们所知仅有3例相关报道。我们报告第4例输血继发PRES的患者。一名36岁有月经过多病史的女性因严重疲劳就诊于急诊科。她的血红蛋白为1.7 g/dl,在15小时内输注了4单位红细胞。输血后第6天,她因意识模糊、头痛和全身强直阵挛性发作再次就诊。她的脑部MRI符合PRES表现。次日她的意识模糊加重,复查脑部MRI显示出现新的T2加权像病灶。在接下来的10天里,她的精神状态逐渐改善至接近基线水平。复查脑部MRI显示T2加权像病灶消失。我们患者的临床表现、影像学表现及疾病进展均符合PRES。除输血外,无明显的PRES危险因素。此前3例输血后PRES患者均为患有子宫肌瘤的中年女性。推测这些患者因持续月经过多处于亚急性至慢性贫血状态。值得注意的是,在急性失血(如创伤失血)情况下尚未有输血后PRES的病例报道。据推测,血红蛋白的突然升高导致血液粘度迅速上升以及缺氧性血管舒张功能丧失。随后的内皮损伤和脑毛细血管渗漏导致PRES。在急性失血患者输血后可能不会出现这一系列变化。