The posterior reversible leukoencephalopathy syndrome (PRES) is a recently proposed cliniconeuroradiologic entity.The most common causes of PRES are hypertensive encephalopathy, eclampsia, cyclosporin A neurotoxicity and the uremic encephalopathies.Most patients are markedly hypertensive at presentation, although some have only middly elevated or even normal blood pressure. Symptoms may include headache, nausea , vomiting, altered mental status, seizures,stupor, and visual disturbances. On CT and MR studies, edema has been reported in a relatively symmetrical pattern, typically in the subcortical white matter and occasionally in the cortex of the occipital and parietal lobes. These often striking imaging findings usually are resolved on follow-up studies obtained after appropiate therarapy. Diffusion-weighted images would not show hyperintense signal because of the presence of interstitial rather than cytotoxic edema. We report a case of PRES due to hipertensive encephalopathy studied by CT and MRI.
reversible posterior encephalopathy; hypertensive encephalopathy; neuroradiology
