Pathophysiology of acute coma and disorders of consciousness: considerations for diagnosis and management.

Disorders of consciousness are due to failure of the arousal system. In this review, the authors introduce the spectrum of disorders of consciousness and describe the structures, projections, and neurotransmitters involved in the generation and maintenance of arousal. Next, they discuss the neurologic diseases frequently associated with arousal failure.

Perfusion computed tomography in transient ischemic attack.

Background: Diffusion- and perfusion-weighted imaging after transient ischemic attack (TIA) has been well studied, while less data exist on perfusion computed tomographic (PCT) imaging.

Objectives: To examine the frequency of PCT abnormalities in patients with anterior circulation TIA and to identify factors associated with the presence of PCT abnormality.

Design: Retrospective study.

Misdiagnosis of transient ischemic attacks in the emergency room.

Background: To determine a pattern of symptoms and/or risk factors that distinguishes transient ischemic attack (TIA) from nonischemic causes of transient neurologic attacks (NI-TNA).

Methods: We reviewed demographic, clinical, and hospital data on 100 consecutive patients with transient focal neurologic episode(s) lasting less than 24 h and in whom the initial diagnosis was TIA. After inpatient evaluation and review, final diagnoses were made by two stroke neurologists.