Hemiplegia due to posterior cerebral artery occlusion.

Abstract

Hemiplegia is a rare manifestation of posterior cerebral artery occlusion. The acute clinical picture may be difficult to differentiate from occlusion of the middle cerebral artery. A mechanism for the hemiplegia has not been conclusively determined. We describe a patient with hemiplegia secondary to posterior cerebral artery occlusion by an embolized fragment of a prosthetic valve. Computed tomographic scan showed the foreign body just distal to the origin of the posterior cerebral artery with infarction of its vascular territory. These findings were later confirmed at autopsy. There was no radiological or autopsy evidence of involvement of the other cerebral arteries or their territories. The patient provides further evidence that occlusion of the posterior cerebral artery just distal to its junction with the posterior communicating artery may produce contralateral hemiplegia without oculomotor nerve nucleus involvement.