TITLE:
Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome induced after blood transfusion for severe anemia
AUTHORS:
Kei-ichiro Wada, Masayoshi Kano, Yutaka Machida, Nobutaka Hattori, Hideto Miwa
KEYWORDS:
Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome; Anemia; Blood Transfusion
JOURNAL NAME:
Case Reports in Clinical Medicine,
Vol.2 No.5,
August
16,
2013
ABSTRACT: Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) is a clinicoradiological syndrome characterized by headache, confusion, seizures, and cortical visual loss, as well as subcortical edema without infarction on neuroimaging. We report a 56-year-old woman who developed typical manifestations of PRES, 6 days after blood transfusion for severe anemia. Acute volume overloads by transfusion may exceed the capacity of autoregulation of perfusion pressure, possibly resulting in vasogenic edema. We propose that it is clinically important to recognize that rapid correction of anemia by blood transfusion may carry the risk of inducing PRES.