Carotid and vertebral artery dissection syndromes

Cervicocerebral arterial dissections (CAD) are an important cause of strokes in younger patients accounting for nearly 20% of strokes in patients under the age of 45 years. Extracranial internal carotid artery dissections comprise 70%–80% and extracranial vertebral dissections account for about 15%...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Postgraduate Medical Journal 2005-06, Vol.81 (956), p.383-388
Main Authors: Thanvi, B, Munshi, S K, Dawson, S L, Robinson, T G
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anticoagulants
Atherosclerosis
Biological and medical sciences
Blood and lymphatic vessels
CAD
Cardiology. Vascular system
Carotid arteries
Carotid Artery, Internal, Dissection - diagnosis
Carotid Artery, Internal, Dissection - etiology
Carotid Artery, Internal, Dissection - therapy
cervicocerbral arterial dissection
Diseases of the peripheral vessels. Diseases of the vena cava. Miscellaneous
Dissection
EICD
extracranial internal carotid artery dissection
General aspects
Humans
ICD
internal carotid artery
internal carotid dissection
Medical imaging
Medical sciences
Pathogenesis
Prognosis
Review
Studies
Thromboembolism
VAD
Veins & arteries
vertebral artery
vertebral artery dissection
Vertebral Artery Dissection - diagnosis
Vertebral Artery Dissection - etiology
Vertebral Artery Dissection - therapy
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Cervicocerebral arterial dissections (CAD) are an important cause of strokes in younger patients accounting for nearly 20% of strokes in patients under the age of 45 years. Extracranial internal carotid artery dissections comprise 70%–80% and extracranial vertebral dissections account for about 15% of all CAD. Aetiopathogenesis of CAD is incompletely understood, though trauma, respiratory infections, and underlying arteriopathy are considered important. A typical picture of local pain, headache, and ipsilateral Horner’s syndrome followed after several hours by cerebral or retinal ischaemia is rare. Doppler ultrasound, MRI/MRA, and CT angiography are useful non-invasive diagnostic tests. The treatment of extracranial CAD is mainly medical using anticoagulants or antiplatelet agents although controlled studies to show their effectiveness are lacking. The prognosis of extracranial CAD is generally much better than that of the intracranial CAD. Recurrences are rare in CAD.
ISSN:0032-5473
1469-0756
DOI:10.1136/pgmj.2003.016774