Traumatic Dissection of Four Brain-Supplying Arteries without Neurologic Deficit

Study Design Case report and review of the literature. Objectives Case report of a traumatic dissection of all major brain-supplying arteries resulting from a horseback-riding accident. Overview of the literature on diagnostic and therapeutic recommendations. Methods Case presentation. For the discussion, handpicked articles and PubMed database research with the keywords “dissection,” “vertebral artery,” “spine trauma,” “computed tomography,” “magnetic resonance imaging,” and “angiography” were used. Results Despite high-energy induced acute lesion of all four cervical arteries, this 45-year-old patient did not demonstrate signs of microemboli nor suffer from stroke. Conclusion In case of high-energy trauma of the head and/or the neck, emergency physicians must consider traumatic cervical artery dissection (TCAD). Thus, emergency care algorithms should routinely include computed tomography angiography and magnetic resonance imaging. Although the incidence of TCAD-induced stroke is low, antiplatelet therapy is recommended in the presence of TCAD.