How can we distinguish postictal Todd’s Paralysis from acute ischemic stroke in the prehospital and early hospital setting?
Article Category: Review paper
Published Online: Aug 30, 2022
Page range: -
Received: Apr 11, 2022
Accepted: Aug 16, 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/joepi-2022-0002
Keywords
© 2022 Natasza Blek, published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.
Introduction
Acute Ischemic Stroke (AIS) is a medical emergency with focal neurological deficits. Todd’s paralysis (TP) is defined as a transient loss of motor ability and weakness that lasts hours to days and typically occurs after a focal seizure. Given the high prevalence of stroke and the rising availability of reperfusion therapies, timely detection of eligible patients is critical. Pre- and early-hospital differential diagnosis of various conditions with comparable clinical presentations is still difficult.
Aim
This review discusses Todd’s post-epileptic paralysis, one of the most common stroke mimics (SM), in pre- and early-hospital settings.
Discussion and Conclusions
The review covers the most critical findings on the TP and its emergency care as a common stroke mimic. Because TP is an excluding diagnosis, the most severe and curable illnesses must be recognised. Since thrombolysis is safe in SM, delaying or withholding medication may be improper when the advantages of treating a stroke mimic outweigh the dangers of treating a stroke mimic.