Abstract
We clinically investigated 10 patients with spontaneous cervical internal carotid artery dissections (age range 36–70, mean 52±12 years; 8 male and 2 female) who were admitted to our university hospital between August 2002 and 2009. Cervical internal carotid artery dissection was diagnosed using findings from MRI, MRA, 3D-CTA, cerebral angiography, and carotid artery ultrasonography according to the diagnostic criteria of brain artery dissociation defined by the brain artery dissociation working group of the Strategies Against Stroke Study for Young Adults in Japan. The initial symptoms were stroke in eight patients, only neck pain in another, and no symptoms in the last. Four patients (40%) had neck pain or headache at onset. Five of the 10 patients had radiological improvements within three months after onset. The outcomes at three months were relatively good, with seven and three patients scoring 1 and 2, respectively, on the modified Rankin Scale. Disease did not recur in any patients during an average of 17.2 months of follow up. Spontaneous cervical internal carotid artery dissection is not rare in Japan. This condition should be considered when patients present with internal carotid artery occlusion or stenosis.
