Stroke in young patients: a diagnostic challenge in the emergency room.

Stroke in young adults has been related to mechanisms different to those found in older individuals. Cardiogenic embolism, arteritis, atherosclerosis, fibromuscular dysplasia, pregnancy-related angiopathy, migrainous stroke, anaemia, antiphospholipid syndrome, arterial dissection, the consumption of toxic substances and head trauma have been described. We present a young man with a case history of tobacco and cocaine abuse who suffered a mild head trauma, with normal neurological examination, and a computed tomography scan image of a right anterior cerebral infarction.