18th August 2024

An 80-year-old woman presents following the sudden onset of left-sided weakness and numbness

An 80-year-old woman presents following the sudden onset of left-sided weakness and numbness witnessed by her family when she slumped in her chair five hours ago. She has a background of atrial fibrillation, chronic kidney disease stage 3, hypertension and osteoporosis and she takes edoxaban, amlodipine and calcium and vitamin D supplementation. She lives with her family who report that she rarely leaves the house because she requires their assistance to walk and is incontinent of urine. On your examination, she has a dense left hemiparesis with numbness, hemineglect and she is dysarthric. CT demonstrates a hyperdensity in the M2 region of the right middle cerebral artery. Your consultant advises that she would not be a candidate for thrombectomy and should be given 300 mg aspirin. Why would this lady not be considered a candidate for thrombectomy?

Select the SINGLE most appropriate option from the list below. Select ONE option only.