PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Christodoulidou, Michelle
AU  - Selmi, Fahed
TI  - Severe diabetic ketoacidosis leading to cardiac failure, pulmonary oedema and spinal cord oedema resulting in tetraplegia
AID  - 10.1136/bcr-2012-006769
DP  - 2012 Dec 13
TA  - BMJ Case Reports
PG  - bcr2012006769
VI  - 2012
4099  - http://casereports.bmj.com/content/2012/bcr-2012-006769.short
4100  - http://casereports.bmj.com/content/2012/bcr-2012-006769.full
AB  - A 23-year-old man with poorly controlled insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus presented to casualty with community-acquired pneumonia and diabetic ketoacidosis. Shortly after admission he deteriorated and developed cardiac failure, pulmonary oedema and further decreased level of consciousness. He was sedated and ventilated for 3 weeks in the intensive care unit. On waking from sedation he was found to be tetraplegic. MRI scan showed gross oedema of the cervical spinal cord with area suspicious of infarction. We describe a rare cause of spinal cord injury and discuss the proposed hypotheses.