Saccadic palsy after cardiac surgery: Serial neuroimaging findings during a 6-year follow-up

Case Report: A 43-year-old woman with dysarthria, dysphagia, and horizontal and vertical saccadic palsy after cardiac surgery was followed up for about 6 years; serial brain MRIs has been performed during this period, including susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) and [¹⁸F]-fuoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET). Multiple microbleeds in the cerebral cortex, cerebellum, and brainstem, and glucose hypometabolism in the brainstem, cerebellum, and multiple cortical areas.

Conclusions To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case of saccadic palsy after cardiac surgery with serial SWI and [¹⁸F]-FDG-PET performed to explore the possible cerebral lesions.

Background: Patients who develop horizontal and vertical saccadic palsy after cardiac surgery have rarely been described. Although most such patients exhibit distinct neurological deficits, their brain MRI findings are almost normal. In addition, functional neuroimaging of such patients has never been reported.