NR ABYT
AU Brusis,T.
TI [Brain damage after tonsillectomy?]
OT Hirnschaden nach Tonsillektomie?
QU Laryngo-Rhino-Otologie 1994 Apr; 73(4): 231-3
PT journal article
AB We report on a 47-year old male patient who developed persistent postoperational bleeding after tonsillectomy, which made tamponading of the pharynx necessary. Even though the patient left the hospital after one week with a haemoglobin value of 10.6 g% and without any complaints, he developed personality changes and later severe neurological symptoms which led to the diagnosis of hypoxic brain damage as suggested by a variety of neurologists and psychiatrists. The diagnosis was finally disproved by a brain biopsy revealing the existence of Jakob-Creutzfeldt disease, a degenerative inflammatory disease due to a slow virus infection. By this final diagnosis the reproach of a maltreatment could be ruled out. The accidental coincidence of the tonsillectomy and the beginning of the Jakob-Creutzfeldt disease had led to the incorrect diagnosis of an operation-caused brain damage. A relation to the tonsillectomy could be ruled out by an extensive neurological examination using every possible diagnostic aid including brain biopsy.
IN Ein trauriges Dokument ärztlicher Ignoranz. Der Mediziner hält die Jakob-Creutzfeldt-Krankheit für eine entzündliche Erkrankung aufgrund einer "slow virus" Infektion.
MH Brain/pathology; Brain Damage, Chronic/diagnosis/*etiology; Case Report; Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome/diagnosis/etiology/pathology; Diagnosis, Differential; English Abstract; Follow-Up Studies; Human; Male; Middle Age; Neurologic Examination; Peritonsillar Abscess/*surgery; Postoperative Complications/diagnosis/*etiology; *Tonsillectomy
AD Klinik für HNO-Heilkunde, Kopf- und Halschirurgie des Städtischen Krankenhauses Köln-Holweide.
SP deutsch
PO Deutschland