Korean J Crit Care Med.  2013 Aug;28(3):180-183. 10.4266/kjccm.2013.28.3.180.

Malignant Cerebral Infarction after Pulmonary Resection for Lung Cancer

• Song IA
• Jung SM
• Kim DJ
• Park SH

• KMID: 2227836
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4266/kjccm.2013.28.3.180

Abstract

Malignant cerebral infarction as postoperative complication after pulmonary resection occurs rarely, but can be rather serious. We report a case of 81-year-old man who suffered from malignant cerebral infarctions after pulmonary resection for lung cancer. He had a history of well-controlled hypertensions, but no evidences of arrhythmia, and neither stenosis nor atheroma in the carotid arteries and intracranial arteries. There were no specific events during his operation except that an inadvertent left carotid artery puncture occurred during the central line insertion. In intensive care unit (ICU), he had a delayed recovery of consciousness and dysarthria with right hemiplegia. Computed tomography revealed malignant middle cerebral infarctions due to the occlusion of left middle cerebral artery. It could be the thromboembolism due to pulmonary resections or carotid artery punctures in the patient without high risk factors.

Keyword

lobectomy; malignant cerebral infarction; postoperative stroke

MeSH Terms

Arrhythmias, Cardiac
Arteries
Carotid Arteries
Cerebral Infarction
Consciousness
Constriction, Pathologic
Dysarthria
Hemiplegia
Humans
Intensive Care Units
Lung
Lung Neoplasms
Middle Cerebral Artery
Plaque, Atherosclerotic
Postoperative Complications
Punctures
Risk Factors
Thromboembolism