The Hypoglycemia Evaluated Mistakenly as Cerebrovascular Disease

Abstract

We aimed at emphasizing the significance of monitoring and regulating the blood glucose level of type II diabetic patients by presenting the case of a patient who was initially diagnosed as cerebral ischemia by mistake and later treated and healed via regulating the blood glucose level. A 79-year-old female patient who suffered from type II diabetes mellitus (type II DM) and hypertension was operated on because of left intertrochanteric fracture. On the postoperative 4th day, the overall situation of the patient worsened. She was unconscious, showing no responses to vocal stimulations. Cerebrovascular disease was not eliminated because of clinical findings, and the patient was intubated as mechanical ventilation was applied. The blood glucose level was 12 mg/dl at the time. As 500 ml of dextrose 10% was applied in twenty minutes, the blood glucose level increased to 237 mg/dl and the neurological findings improved. The next day, the patient was extubated. In cases where factors such as stress and starvation are present, the level of blood glucose should be examined frequently for diabetic patients during pre-, per-, and postoperative periods. In our case, our recommendation is to think systematically even from the simplest syndrome to the most complicated one.




J Neurol Res. 2011;1(1):34-36
doi: https://doi.org/10.4021/jnr15e