Stroke secondary to carotid occlusion in a young man with nephrotic syndrome: Case description and review of the literature

We report a case of hemispheric stroke and death secondary to thrombosis of the internal carotid artery in a young adult with minimal-change nephrotic syndrome. Thrombotic complications are common in patients with nephrotic syndrome and may be due to a hypercoagulable state. To our knowledge, this is the first report of cerebral infarction due to thrombosis in the extracranial vasculature in a patient with nephrotic syndrome. We review previous reports of cerebral infarction in association with nephrotic syndrome and discuss possible mechanisms of hypercoagulability in this setting.