Spontaneous carotid artery dissection presenting as migraine--a diagnosis not to be missed.

Spontaneous carotid artery dissection presenting as migraine--a diagnosis not to be missed.

Two cases are reported in which the diagnosis of a serious condition was delayed as the symptoms had been attributed to migraine. Spontaneous carotid artery dissection is a serious but treatable cause of headache that may be misdiagnosed as recent onset migraine. The importance of correctly identifying this condition is emphasised.

Spontaneous internal carotid artery dissection presenting as hypoglossal nerve palsy.

A 42-year-old man presented with right temporal headache, dysarthria, and dysphagia. On examination, he had a right hypoglossal nerve palsy. The diagnosis of right internal carotid artery dissection was suggested by magnetic resonance imaging and confirmed by carotid angiography. A dynamic computed tomogram demonstrated enlargement of the carotid artery. In carotid dissection, the hypoglossal n...

Spontaneous carotid artery dissection.

Tachycardiomyopathy: a diagnosis not to be missed.

The prognosis of dilated cardiomyopathy is generally poor. In the vast majority of cases the cause of the ventricular dysfunction is irreversible but occasionally potentially curable causes are identified. Tachycardiomyopathy is a rare and potentially treatable cause of heart failure. A patient with a particularly severe case who had an excellent outcome is presented.

Craniophrangioma: a diagnosis not to be missed.

In April 2007, a 21-year-old woman presented with secondary amenorrhoea for 5 years. Her past medical history included bilateral valgus heels with difficulty in walking as a toddler, fractured nose and epistaxis with nasal septum deviation (seen in ENT clinic in 1998). She had a family history of migraine and was referred to the neurology clinic for throbbing headaches in the right frontal regi...