Hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasias with recurrent ischemic stroke hinted by manganese deposition in the basal ganglia: a case report and literature review

Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) is a rare autosomal dominant inherited vascular disorder that can involve multiple organs, thus can be associated with so many clinical departments that proper screening and diagnosis of HHT are needed for providing better management of both patients and their family members.

We present a 58-year-old female patient with recurrent paradoxical brain embolism due to HHT. She received aspirin therapy and underwent pulmonary arteriovenous malformation embolization, recovering well and discharged 3 days postoperatively. Though ischemic stroke caused by HHT-induced vascular disorders has been reported, our patient presented with both recurrent paradoxical brain embolisms and radiologic findings of bilateral globus pallidus manganese deposition at the same time, a combination rarely reported. We also review the literature on the clinical features and management of HHT for prompt diagnosis of this genetic disease behind paradoxical embolism.

When patients with ischemic stroke, especially recurrent ischemic stroke, have combined arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) in single or multiple organs, or clues for AVMs like manganese deposition in globus pallidus, genetic diseases such as HHT may be the reason for ischemic stroke and shouldn’t be missed in the evaluation of embolic sources.