Question

A 68-year-old woman suffers the rapid onset of right hemiparesis (weakness on one side of the body) and severe aphasia (inability to speak). Two months later, a CT scan of her head reveals a large cystic area in the left parietal lobe of her brain. Which of the following pathological processes accounts for this CT finding?

Option 1: Glioblastoma multiforme.
Option 2: Ischemic stroke.
Option 3: Intracranial hemorrhage.
Option 4: Cerebral abscess.

Answer 1

The presence of a cystic area in the left parietal lobe on a CT scan following the rapid onset of right hemiparesis and severe aphasia in an elderly woman is most indicative of an ischemic stroke.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question revolves around identifying the pathological process that accounts for a CT finding of a large cystic area in the left parietal lobe of a 68-year-old woman who presents with right hemiparesis and severe aphasia. Given the rapid onset of symptoms and the subsequent imaging results revealing a cystic area, the most likely cause is an ischemic stroke.

An ischemic stroke occurs when a blood vessel supplying blood to the brain is obstructed, resulting in tissue damage and, over time, leading to cystic encephalomalacia, which may appear on a CT scan as a cystic area. This contrasts with the alternatives, such as a glioblastoma multiforme, which would represent a primary brain tumor, an intracranial hemorrhage, which would initially show as accumulation of blood rather than a cystic area, and a cerebral abscess, which is an infection within the brain tissue usually associated with different clinical features such as fever and sepsis.