Susannah Constantine: I nearly had a stroke—surgery saved my life (27 April 2024)

Summary

This article tells the story of 61 year-old Susannah Constantine who was diagnosed with a rare neurological condition after her MRI was not looked at by her GP surgery for over a year.

Susannah decided to have a private MRI when doctors couldn't diagnose why she’d been suffering from tinnitus and pins and needles in the fingers of her left hand. The results were sent to her GP, and Susannah heard no more, so struggled on for another year—she gradually became weaker and her muscles atrophied. She called her GP surgery to check if the MRI held any clues and learnt no one there had ever looked at the results—they had just been sat there for a year. She was told she needed to see a neurosurgeon immediately and was diagnosed with arteriovenous malformation (AVM), a rare neurological condition that disrupts the flow of blood and oxygen to the brain. If not spotted and treated in good time there is a one in three chance of suffering a brain haemorrhage, paralysis or stroke.