BATS BELOW THE BRIDGE - IS A POTENTIALLY TREATABLE NEUROVASCULAR DISORDER BEING UNDERDIAGNOSED IN ACCIDENT AND EMERGENCY DEPARTMENTS

Basilar artery thrombosis (BATS) is a progressive disorder which may p resent with fluctuating neurological signs of varying degrees of sever ity. Unless the diagnosis is considered, the confused young patient ma y be thought to be under the influence of drugs or to be psychological ly ill, and indeed the Munchausen syndrome may be considered. The more elderly patient may be diagnosed simply as having had a cerebrovascul ar accident. This paper presents the cases of three patients admitted through the accident and emergency (A&E) department of St Mary's Hospi tal, London with basilar artery thrombosis during a 6-month period. Al l these patients demonstrated the classic triad for this syndrome of: (1) long tract neurological signs, (2) impaired conscious level, and ( 3) complex ocular signs. The concern is that, for patients with more s ubtle signs, a diagnosis of BATS may not be considered, and a neurolog ical opinion may be thus delayed and no treatment with anticoagulants or thrombolytic agents would be given. Two of the three patients were treated with anticoagulants and improved, while in the third patients anticoagulation was judged inappropriate and the patients died from pr ogression of the disease with respiratory complications.