Distal middle cerebral artery dissection with concurrent completely thrombosed aneurysm manifesting as cerebral ischemia. A case report and review of the literature

We report the case of a 70-year-old woman who presented with an acute ischemic stroke involving the left frontal operculum secondary to an M2 dissection and a concomitant completely thrombosed aneurysm of the left distal middle cerebral artery. Initial imaging work-up was inconclusive due to the lack of typical radiographic features and only repeated imaging studies pointed towards the presence of an arterial dissection combined with a completely thrombosed aneurysm. The aneurysm was partially clipped and wrapped with excellent clinical result at 1-year follow-up. The clinical, imaging and therapeutic challenges of this rare entity are discussed.