Return to alertness after brain-stem hemorrhage. A case with evoked potential and roentgenographic evidence of bilateral tegmental damage
R. K. Portenoy, D. Kurtzberg, J. C. Arezzo, G. H. Sands, A. Miller and H. G. Vaughan Jr
After a 65-year-old man had received anticoagulation therapy for brain-stem
ischemia, a large, bilateral pontomesencephalic hemorrhage developed in the
ischemic region. He survived a period of being "locked in" to attain a
limited functional recovery. When he first became alert, brain-stem
auditory evoked potentials and short-latency somatosensory evoked
potentials (SEPs) demonstrated bilateral brain-stem damage; computed
tomography revealed a bilateral tegmental hematoma. Results of repeated
studies changed little as clinical improvement occurred. Recovery from
brain-stem hemorrhage is rare, and return of consciousness with bilateral
tegmental involvement is even more rare. The short-latency SEPs are useful
in defining the extent of brain-stem damage, but they evaluate structures
distinct from those regulating consciousness and cannot predict a return to
alertness.