Clinical features of ischemic stroke in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma / 中华耳鼻咽喉头颈外科杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the clinical features of ischemic stroke in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The clinical data of the nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients with ischemic stroke treated at the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University between January 2006 and December 2013 were collected.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Among 3 822 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma 10 patients suffered from acute ischemic stroke. The 10 patients were males and their age ranged from 39 to 70 years old, with an average age of 51 years. All of the patients were found with squamous cell carcinoma, with metastasis in 7 of them. Among the 10 patients, only 3 patients had with traditional risk factors for ischemic stroke, but no traditional risk factor was found in other 7 patients; 2 patients showed single lesion in brain and 8 patients with two or more lesions due to the blockage of multiple cerebral arteries; 7 patients showed an elevated plasma D-dimer level.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>It is suggested that the acute ischemic stroke occurring in the patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma commonly lacks traditional risk factors, with elevated plasma D-dimer levels and multiple lesions due to involvement of several cerebral arteries.</p>