Cerebral hemorrhage presenting as alteration of consciousness during the anesthesia recovery period: A case report

Min, Doo Jae; Kim, Woon Young; Lee, Sehwa; Lee, Yoon Sook; Kim, Jae Hwan; Park, Young Cheol

Case Report

Neuroanesthesia

Anesthesia and Pain Medicine 2011;6(3):266-269.
Published online July 30, 2011.

Cerebral hemorrhage presenting as alteration of consciousness during the anesthesia recovery period: A case report

Doo Jae Min, Woon Young Kim, Sehwa Lee, Yoon Sook Lee, Jae Hwan Kim, Young Cheol Park

Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Ansan Hospital of Korea University, Ansan, Korea. ckssis@korea.ac.kr

Abstract

Catastrophic neurological events can occur rarely in anesthetic recovery period and they must be quickly diagnosed. We report here on a spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (SICH) that developed during the anesthesia recovery period in a 52-year-old man who had undergone uneventful orthopedic surgery. He had predisposing factors including 25 year history of heavy alcohol consumption and smoking. The risk of spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage following non-cardiovascular and non-neurovascular surgery is exceedingly small during the anesthesia recovery period, especially for a patient with no history of hypertension and coagulopathy. We also describe the differential diagnosis of an altered mental status that occurs during anesthetic recovery period.

Key Words: Anesthesia recovery period, Cerebral hemorrhage, Consciousness Disorder, Spontaneous rupture