AUTHOR=Xie Xin , Wang Xuecheng , Yu Jinbo , Zhou Xiaoqian , Shi Liya , Zhou Jian , Wu Yizhang , Chen Zijun , Zhang Baowei , Li Xiaorong , Yang Bing 

TITLE=Case report: Artery of Percheron infarction as a rare complication during atrial fibrillation ablation

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cardiovascular-medicine/articles/10.3389/fcvm.2022.914123

DOI=10.3389/fcvm.2022.914123

ISSN=2297-055X

ABSTRACT=The incidence of stroke or Transient Ischemic Attacks (TIA) in atrial fibrillation (AF) catheter ablation procedure is around 1%, and may be unnoted under anesthesia. Artery of Percheron (AOP) infarction is a rare kind of stroke with heterogeneity in manifestation, which further makes the perioperative early detection and diagnosis a challenge. Herein, we present one patient who underwent AF ablation and presented mental status alteration after withdrawing anesthetics. An emergency head computed tomography (CT) was obtained and revealed no apparent pathological changes. A late MRI test confirmed the diagnosis of AOP infarction. With oral anticoagulants and rehabilitation therapies, the patient's awareness improved and fully recovered on the sixth-month follow-up. Variability in manifestation, no positive radiological finding on initial CT, and a low incidence made few clinicians have much experience with this type of infarct, which delay the diagnosis and initiation of appropriate treatment.