Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Nov 24;5(6):e096.
doi: 10.1097/j.pbj.0000000000000096. eCollection 2020 Nov-Dec.

Clinical presentation of vertebrobasilar stroke

Vanessa Carvalho  1 , Vitor Tedim Cruz  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Clinical presentation of vertebrobasilar stroke

Vanessa Carvalho et al. Porto Biomed J. .

Abstract

Vertebrobasilar (VB) stroke is responsible for 20% of all strokes and transient ischemic attacks. Due to the vast cerebral territory it supplies, VB ischemia can present with a wide range of symptoms and signs, sometimes even overlapping with carotid circulation stroke. Furthermore, brain computed tomography, usually performed as initial imaging modality, has a suboptimal visualization of the posterior fossa, making VB stroke an even more challenging diagnosis to any physician. Hence, awareness of the vertebrobasilar anatomy and the clinical presentation of VB ischemia is crucial to promote early recognition of this disorder.

Keywords: cerebrovascular disorders; stroke; vertebrobasilar stroke.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Sponsorships or competing interests that may be relevant to content are disclosed at the end of this article.The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

    1. Bogousslavsky J, Van Melle G, Regli F. The lausanne stroke registry: analysis of 1,000 consecutive patients with first stroke. Stroke. 1988;19:1083–1092. - PubMed
    1. Kim J-T, Park M-S, Choi K-H, et al. Clinical outcomes of posterior versus anterior circulation infarction with low national institutes of health stroke scale scores. Stroke. 2016;48:55–62. - PubMed
    1. Glass TA, Hennessey PM, Pazdera L, et al. Outcome at 30 days in the New England Medical Center Posterior Circulation Registry. Arch Neurol. 2002;59:369–376. - PubMed
    1. Gulli G, Markus HS. The use of FAST and ABCD2 scores in posterior circulation, compared with anterior circulation, stroke and transient ischemic attack. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2012;83:228–229. - PubMed
    1. Markus HS, van der Worp HB, Rothwell PM. Posterior circulation ischaemic stroke and transient ischaemic attack: diagnosis, investigation, and secondary prevention. Lancet Neurol. 2013;12:989–998. - PubMed