You are here

Article Text

Article menu
Download PDFPDF
Emergency medicine
Simultaneous, spontaneous and multivessel cervical artery dissection presenting with headache and vertigo
  1. David Matthew Jenkins1,
  2. Jake Cowen2,
  3. Nagushan Abimanue2,3,
  4. Jasper Bekker2 and
  5. Riaz Ali2
  1. 1Emergency Department, Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust, Portsmouth, UK
  2. 2Department of Radiology, Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust, Portsmouth, UK
  3. 3Department of Radiology, Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust, Southampton, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Nagushan Abimanue; nagushan.abimanue{at}uhs.nhs.uk

Abstract

Cervical artery dissection (CAD) is a relatively common cause of stroke, particularly in young adults. Typical presentation includes headache, neck pain and neurological signs of ischaemic stroke. More than half of these cases are spontaneous, without a preceding history of trauma, and most commonly affect a single vessel. We report a case of a man in his 20s presenting with spontaneous, non-traumatic multivessel CAD (triple vessel, quadruple dissection), bilateral cerebellar infarcts and concomitant basilar artery thrombus. Triple or quadruple vessel CAD is seldom reported in the absence of trauma. Clinicians should be aware of CAD, and the extent to which it can occur, while appreciating the importance of good clinical examination and appropriate imaging in such cases. Correct characterisation of eye movements is key.

  • Emergency medicine
  • Brain stem / cerebellum
  • Neuro-otology
  • Stroke
  • Radiology

https://doi.org/10.1136/bcr-2024-260089

Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

    View Full Text

    Footnotes

    • X @jakecowen

    • Contributors All authors were responsible for drafting of the text, sourcing and editing of clinical images, investigation of the results, drawing original diagrams and algorithms and critical revision for important intellectual content. DMJ and RA gave final approval of the manuscript. RA acted as the guarantor.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Case reports provide a valuable learning resource for the scientific community and can indicate areas of interest for future research. They should not be used in isolation to guide treatment choices or public health policy.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.