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Case Reports
. 2020 Nov 25;20(1):428.
doi: 10.1186/s12883-020-02006-6.

Cervical artery dissection-an easily neglected cause of stroke: a case report

Ya -Hui Lian  1 , Xin Chen  1 , De- Rui Kong  1 , Wei Chen  1 , Ming-Chao Shi  2 , Hong-Wei Zhou  3
Affiliations
Case Reports

Cervical artery dissection-an easily neglected cause of stroke: a case report

Ya -Hui Lian et al. BMC Neurol. .

Abstract

Background: In recent years, the incidence of stroke has gradually increased in young people. There are many reasons causing stroke, including atherosclerosis, artery embolization, and cervical artery dissection and so on. However, cervical artery dissection is a major cause of stroke in young people. We present a case of ischemic stroke caused by dissection, whose distal vascular occlusion due to detachment of the thrombosis in the right internal carotid artery.

Case presentation: A 33-year-old male patient was admitted to the hospital because of stroke. Imaging examination showed that there was no visualization of the right middle cerebral artery and there were a large number of mural thrombus in the C1 segment of the right internal carotid artery. After emergency surgery, the patient had vascular recanalization and the symptoms were significantly improved. Magnetic resonance imaging showed a high signal in the C1 segment of the right internal carotid artery, the abnormal signal disappeared after antiplatelet therapy.

Conclusions: When a patient has symptoms of stroke, we need to explore the root cause of stroke. Especially in young people, cervical artery dissection is an important reason that can't be ignored. Through review and analysis of this case, we hope to improve the understanding of radiologists and clinicians about the cervical artery dissection, reduce the rate of misdiagnosis, and improve patients' prognosis.

Keywords: 3D-T1 VISTA; Cervical artery dissection; Stroke; VW-MRI.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
a: Digital subtraction angiography (DSA) showed a large number of mural thrombus in the C1 segment of the right internal carotid artery (red circle). b: Follow-up digital subtraction angiography showed the vessel wall of the right internal carotid artery was not smooth (red arrow). c: Axial 3D-T1 VISTA image showed a high signal in the lumen of the right internal carotid artery (white arrow). d: Curved planner reconstruction image showed the intramural hematoma of the right internal carotid artery (circle)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
a and b: Before antiplatelet therapy, the right internal carotid artery was selected as the target lumen, and at the same level, the vessel wall magnetic resonance imaging showed a large number of thrombus and lipid core can be seen in the wall of the tube, it means that the mural thrombus is unstable plaque. c and d: After antiplatelet therapy, the right internal carotid artery was selected as the target lumen, and at the same level, the vessel wall magnetic resonance imaging showed the disappearance of abnormal components in the lumen
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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