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Reversible Vasoconstrictive Syndrome in Pregnancy

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Neurological Disorders in Pregnancy

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Abstract

Reversible vasoconstriction syndrome (RCVS) is a poorly understood disease heralded by multiple areas of vasoconstriction on cerebral vessel imaging that later resolve. It more commonly affects females than males and although its pathophysiology is not clearly understood, it appears to be multi-factorial and may share many features with posterior reversible encephalopathy and eclampsia. In the pregnant patient it appears most commonly in the post-partum period and is commonly associated with cerebrovascular events such as intracerebral hemorrhage, stroke, and cerebral venous thrombosis. Clinically, the patient with RCVS will present with recurrent thunderclap headaches and will typically require assessment for aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. Clinical suspicion must be high as vascular imaging may not demonstrate vasoconstrictive lesions for several days to weeks requiring repeat imaging. Treatment typically consists of vasodilators and analgesia with most patients reporting a good outcome.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Downstate Health Sciences University, Brooklyn, NY, USA

    Walter Wallace Valesky, Susan W. Law & Daniel Rosenbaum

  2. Department of Neurology, Kings County Hospital Center, Brooklyn, NY, USA

    Susan W. Law

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  1. Walter Wallace Valesky
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  2. Susan W. Law
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Correspondence to Walter Wallace Valesky .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurosurgery, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

    Gaurav Gupta

  2. Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

    Todd Rosen

  3. Department of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Radiology, New York Medical College - Westchester Medical Center, Valhalla, NY, USA

    Fawaz Al-Mufti

  4. Department of Neurosurgery, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

    Anil Nanda

  5. Department of Neurosurgery, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

    Priyank Khandelwal

  6. Department of Neuroradiology, University Radiology, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

    Sudipta Roychowdhury

  7. Department of Neurology, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

    Michael S. Rallo

  8. Department of Cerebrovascular & Endovascular Neurosurgery, Rutgers - Robert Wood Johnson Medical Sc, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

    Sanjeev Sreenivasan

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Valesky, W.W., Law, S.W., Rosenbaum, D. (2023). Reversible Vasoconstrictive Syndrome in Pregnancy. In: Gupta, G., et al. Neurological Disorders in Pregnancy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-36490-7_13

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