2023 V-RED First Place Winner
Prof. Dr. med. Bernd Turowski
Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology
Düsseldorf University Hospital
In September 2021, Autumn Lang had suffered nine strokes and an intracranial high-grade stenosis (a narrowing of an artery in the brain). Four days after the strokes, Autumn’s neurosurgical team at Düsseldorf University Hospital was considering doing cerebral artery bypass surgery or reopening the artery with a stent. On day five, however, her physician, Prof. Dr. Bernd Turowski and a team of neurologists, neurosurgeons and neuroradiologists began reviewing Autumn’s case further.
After performing a cerebral angiogram – looking for problems with blood vessels and blood flow in the brain – the team discussed the possibility of vasculitis. Autumn had heard the doctors say that if this was vasculitis, it would mean that a bypass or stent would be “contraindicated.”
Prof. Dr. Turowski and his team continued performing specific imaging, which included a cranial MRI, a CAT scan with cranial perfusion, carotid angiography, extracranial doppler duplix sonography, and transcranial duplix sonography. The testing provided the necessary information for everyone to agree that this was most likely central nervous system vasculitis. This all happened within 10 days of Autumn having her last stroke as she entered hospital care. “I’m here today with no mental or physical disabilities,” she explained. “Early diagnosis begins with physicians who are educated on vasculitis, and I thank Prof. Dr. Turowski and his team for continuing their education in rare conditions,” she said.
