Hypertensive encephalopathy involving the brainstem and deep structures: a case report.

Hypertensive encephalopathy rarely presented with widespread edema in the cerebral white matters, deep structures and whole brainstem. A 80-year-old woman manifested as high arterial blood pressure, visual disturbance, severe headache, nausea, and vomiting. T2-weighted and fluid-attenuated inversion recovery magnetic resonance imaging showed high signal-intensity lesions in the cerebral white matter, cerebellum, basal ganglia, thalamus, and brainstem. Diffusion-weighted brain MRI did not show hyperintense signals in these lesions. These findings suggested the pathological basis of vasogenic edema. After control of hypertension, clinical symptoms and these edematous lesions on MRI gradually reduced.