June 2024 - 2
Author: Dr John Leaney
A 44 year old right handed male presented for a routine eye examination.
On questioning, he had been experiencing increasing headaches for the past 2 months. He had two headaches in total which presented as follows;
- blurred vision followed by headache
- can’t see anything on right hand side, aura for 30 mins, headaches lasted ½ day, always on right side
- persistent visual field loss post migraine
- some short-term memory loss
What is the red flag(s) in the initial findings?
A - New type of headache for him
Oops! Try again
B - Persistent visual field lost post migraine
Oops! Try again
C - Frequent aura/headaches
Oops! Try again
D - Short-term memory loss
Oops! Try again
E - All of the above
CORRECT!
Answer E
The patient has L occipital arteriovenous malformation (AVM). Stereotactic radiosurgery was performed with good results. The patient still experiences migraine headaches but without aura. He also has a persistent visual field defect due to scarring from AVM.


