Permeable Oval Foramen and Cerebral Vascular Accident in a Young Person: A Case Study in Chad
Brahim Nassour Aware *
Cardiology Department, CHU-Renaissance Hospital, N'Djamena, Chad.
Ali Adam Ahamat
Cardiology Department, CHU-Renaissance Hospital, N'Djamena, Chad.
Ousmane Mahamat Alkher
Neurology Unit, CHU-Renaissance Hospital, N'Djamena, Chad.
Djidda Abakar
Radiology Department, CHU-Renaissance Hospital, N'Djamena, Chad.
Yahya Kichiné
Cardiology Department, CHU-Renaissance Hospital, N'Djamena, Chad.
Azaki Mahamat
Cardiology Department, CHU-Renaissance Hospital, N'Djamena, Chad.
Achta Adam Fadoul
Radiology Department, CHU-Renaissance Hospital, N'Djamena, Chad.
Mbaidedjim Sylvain
Cardiology Department, CHU-Renaissance Hospital, N'Djamena, Chad.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Stroke is a real public health problem with a significant socio-economic impact and a high mortality risk. Its frequency in young people is between 10 and15% of all strokes. The persistence of a patent foramen ovale is one of the causes of cerebral ischaemia in young people, most commonly through paradoxical embolism. We report the case of a 17-year-old girl who presented with cerebral ischaemia with hemorrhagic transformation, revealing an 11 mm PFO with right-to-left shunting. In light of this clinical case, two hypotheses emerge: either our young girl has a right-to-left shunt responsible for cerebral ischaemia that has reached the stage of haemorrhagic infarction, or she has a cerebral haemorrhage following vascular ischaemic softening secondary to an inflammatory flare-up, which would explain why our patient had flu-like symptoms one week before her admission.
Keywords: Paradoxical embolism, cerebral ischaemia, cerebrovascular disease, serology