Clinical and neuroimaging features of hypoglycemia encephalopathy in the elderly
- VernacularTitle:老年人低血糖脑病的临床及神经影像学特征
- Author:
Xuewu LIU
;
Wei WU
;
Shuzhen WANG
;
Lili CAO
;
Xiuhe ZHAO
;
Ruidong CHEN
;
Lijun SU
;
Guoqing DONG
;
Zhaofu CHI
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
Hypoglycemia;
Coma;
Aged;
Tomography,x-ray computed;
Magnetic resonance imaging
- From:
Chinese Journal of Neurology
2008;41(9):610-613
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Objective To investigate the clinical and neuroimaging features of hypoglycemia encephalopathy in the elderly. Methods The history and clinical features of 36 patients who had undergone brain CT and MRI were analyzed retrospectively. Results Twenty-seven patients had infections and fevers as a trigger, presenting all kinds of symptoms. Eleven cases were found to have abnormal signals in bilateral caudate nucleus and lenticular nucleus in MRL But CT examination showed no new lesions in corresponding position. Hypoglycemia encephalopathy were commanly found in the elderly who had diabetes mellitus and treated with drugs. After being followed up for 6 months, their neuroimaging did not change. Conclusions Because the patients often present unconsciousness and weakness with a sudden onset, hypoglycemia is easily mistaken for other disorders, especially in the elderly. For those with consciousness, we should pay more attations to hypoglycemia. Brain CT has no value of diagnosing hypoglycemia encephalopathy, while MRI plays an impotant role in diagnosing the disease. The characteristic MRI features predicts a bad prognosis.
