A 27 - year - old female presents to the Emergency Department aft er a collapse at work, followed by a brief tonic - clonic seizure. She is 30 weeks pregnant with no previous pregnancies or other significant medical history. She currently localises bilaterally to painful stimulus but does not open her eyes or vocalise. Her blood pressure is 170/50 mm Hg, her urine analysis is unremarkable, and the CTG is ‘reassuring’. The Emergency Physician and Obstetrician have asked for your assistance with her management.
What is your differential diagnosis for her current neurological state?
Disclaimer: the viva stem above may be an original CICM stem, acquired from their publicly available past papers. Or, perhaps it is a slightly altered version of the original CICM stem. Or, it is a completely original viva stem, concocted by the monstrously amoral author of Deranged Physiology for nothing more than his own personal amusement. In either case, because the college do not make the main viva text or marking criteria available, almost everything here has been confabulated. It might sound like a plausible viva and it could be used for the purpose of practice, but all should be aware that it does not represent the "true" canonical CICM viva station.