- Dysregulation of blood flow to brain, associated w/severe HTN and/or fluctuations in BP, renal failure, eclampsia, pre-eclampsia, autoimmune diseases, transplant/immunocsuppression
- Severe hypertension (often fluctuating) overcomes brain's normal BP auto-regulation, resulting in vasogenic edema
- Possible that BP isn't sole culprit, w/minority of cases having normal BP
- Predilection for posterior circulation
- Hypertension, pregnancy (eclasmpsia, pre-eclampsia), renal failure, some auto-immune disorders.
- Headache, confusion (hypertensive encephalopathy), seizures, focal neurological findings, visual disturbance (ischemia to occipital lobes)
- Typically fully reverses when underlying cause(s) treated
- Sometimes focal neurological findings
- Brain MRI/MRA usually with characteristic findings