[A Case of Bilateral Medial Medullary Infarction With Heart Appearance Sign].

Abstract

We report a bilateral medial medullary infarction in which diffusion-weighted images revealed a unique configuration: a heart appearance sign. If it is early diagnosed, it might predict a poor outcome. An 85-year-old man developed dysarthria and numbness in his four limbs and was transferred to our hospital. Brain MR diffusion-weighted images revealed a high-intensity lesion in the bilateral medial medulla oblongata -- a heart appearance sign -- and we diagnosed a bilateral medial medullary infarction. Although his symptom changed aggressively for the worse, it finally changed for the better without bulbar paralysis, and he was transferred to another hospital for rehabilitation. When the medial medulla oblongata is supplied by the unilateral control of the anterior spinal artery, its occlusion can cause a bilateral medial medullary infarction.