Stroke due to vertebral artery injury
M. B. Katirji, O. M. Reinmuth and R. E. Latchaw
Minimal neck injury produced vertebral artery damage in two women and three
men, 20 to 57 years of age. Serious neurologic deterioration occurred in
two patients when positioned for roentgenographic procedures. Dissection or
thrombosis of one or both vertebral arteries while in the transverse
foramina occurred in three, one at the site of an osteophyte. The
arteriogram of one patient showed a traumatic aneurysm at C-7, and a second
patient had segmental arterial stenosis with bilateral traumatic aneurysms
at C-5. The location of the arterial injury is not restricted to the
occipitoatlantoaxial level but includes the course through the transverse
foramina. The use of anticoagulation appears to be important in the
immediate management of this process.
