Slowly progressive neuronal death associated with postischemic hyperperfusion in cortical laminar necrosis after high-flow bypass for a carotid intracavernous aneurysm: Case report

The authors report a rare case of slowly progressive neuronal death associated with postischemic hyperperfusion in cortical laminar necrosis after radial artery/external carotid artery-middle cerebral artery bypass graft surgery for an intracavernous carotid artery aneurysm. Under barbiturate protection, a 69-year-old man underwent high-flow bypass surgery combined with carotid artery sacrifice for a symptomatic intracavernous aneurysm. The patient became restless postoperatively, and this restlessness peaked on postoperative Day (POD) 7. Diffusion-weighted and FLAIR MR images obtained on PODs 1 and 7 revealed subtle cortical hyperintensity in the temporal cortex subjected to temporary occlusion. On POD 13, ¹²³I-iomazenil (¹²³I-IMZ) SPECT clearly showed increased distribution on the early image and mildly decreased binding on the delayed image with count ratios of the affected-unaffected corresponding regions of interest of 1.23 and 0.84, respectively, suggesting postischemic hyperperfusion. This was consistent with the finding on ¹²³I-iodoamphetamine SPECT. Of note, neuronal density in the affected cortex on the delayed ¹²³I-IMZ image further decreased to the affected/unaffected ratio of 0.44 on POD 55 during the subacute stage when characteristic cortical hyperintensity on T1-weighted MR imaging, typical of cortical laminar necrosis, was emerging. The affected cortex showed marked atrophy 8 months after the operation despite complete neurological recovery. This report illustrates, for the first time, dynamic neuroradiological correlations between slowly progressive neuronal death shown by ¹²³I-IMZ SPECT and cortical laminar necrosis on MR imaging in human stroke.