Summary

An immigrant from Romania was referred to the neurosurgical unit with a cerebral abscess. On examination she was cyanosed and had clubbing of her fingers. A cardiovascular system examination revealed a systolic murmur heard all over the precordium. However, the diagnosis was not congenital cyanotic heart disease. The patient had a history of frequent nosebleeds and had multiple telangiectases on her body, leading to the diagnosis of hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT). A search was carried out for the presence of arteriovenous malformations in internal organs. Large arteriovenous malformations were found in the lungs, causing her cyanosis due to right-to-left shunting of blood and cerebral abscess due to paradoxical septic embolisation into cerebral circulation.