Neuroimaging of hypoxia and cocaine-induced hippocampal stroke.

The hippocampus has been a subject of numerous studies of behavior and memory in patients who demonstrate atrophy, sclerosis, or injury by autopsy or imaging. It has also been studied in patients who undergo surgical treatment for intractable epilepsy. The effects of hypoxia and ischemia on the hippocampus have been studied in animals; however, human cases of hippocampal stroke are rarely reported. The authors report a case of bilateral hippocampal stroke in a patient with severe ischemia secondary to cardiac arrest and cocaine exposure. These findings likely resulted from the combination of hypoxia and cocaine-related excitotoxicity.