[Cerebrovascular disease in the tropics].
OBJECTIVE
To review the clinical manifestations, diagnosis, and therapy of diseases causing cerebrovascular disease (CVD) in the tropics.


METHODS
Most prevalent conditions causing CVD in the tropics include: sickle cell disease, Takayasu s arteritis, cysticercosis, infective endocarditis, Chagas disease, viral hemorrhagic fevers, gnathostomiasis, leptospirosis, snake bites, cerebral malaria, puerperal venous thrombosis, and tuberculosis. These conditions may cause cerebral infarcts or hemorrhages, and in most instances are related to either vascular damage secondary to angiitis or hemorrhagic diathesis with bleeding in other organs. In some patients, the severity of the neurological picture makes impossible to identify an specific stroke syndrome and cerebrovascular complications are only recognized on neuroimaging studies or autopsy.


CONCLUSIONS
There is a group of tropical infectious and non infectious diseases that may cause cerebral infarcts or hemorrhages. Prompt diagnosis and therapy are needed to reduce the severity or brain damage and to avoid recurrent strokes.
del Brutto
O H
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Departamento de Ciencias Neurológicas, Hospital-Clínica Kennedy, Guayaquil, Ecuador.
D000755:Anemia, Sickle Cell / Q000503:physiopathology; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000503:physiopathology; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D020807:Central Nervous System Parasitic Infections / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000503:physiopathology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006482:Hemorrhagic Fevers, Viral / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D011645:Puerperal Infection / Q000503:physiopathology; D012910:Snake Venoms / Q000633:toxicity; D013625:Takayasu Arteritis / Q000503:physiopathology; D014329:Tropical Climate; D014330:Tropical Medicine; D020246:Venous Thrombosis / Q000503:physiopathology
D012910:Snake Venoms
Enfermedad cerebrovascular en los trópicos.