title: Autonomic dysreflexia and posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome.
abstract: Autonomic dysreflexia is a syndrome of massive imbalanced reflex sympathetic discharge in patients who had a spinal cord injury above the splanchnic sympathetic outflow resulting in a sudden increase in blood pressure. Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) refers to a clinicoradiologic entity characterized by headache, consciousness impairment, visual disturbances, seizures, and posterior transient changes on neuroimaging (cerebral vasogenic edema). Hypertension is a common cause of PRES. The authors describe two case reports of patients with tetraplegia who developed PRES after an autonomic dysreflexia episode. One of them had recurrence of PRES in a similar clinical context. The authors discuss further aspects of PRES and its recurrence, which seems to be unusual particularly after autonomic dysreflexia.
authors.affiliation: Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Department, Hospital de Braga, Braga, Portugal.
authors.forename: Ana Catarina
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Matias
authors.forename: João
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rocha
authors.forename: Maria Emília
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Cerqueira
authors.forename: João Manuel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Pereira
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic; D000328:Adult; D020211:Autonomic Dysreflexia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000379:methods; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D054038:Posterior Leukoencephalopathy Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy; D011782:Quadriplegia / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000534:rehabilitation; D012008:Recurrence; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000534:rehabilitation; D016896:Treatment Outcome