A Case of Fibromuscular Dysplasia in a Patient with Various Main Trunk Dissections in the Head and Neck over a Short Period

Abstract

We report a case of subarachnoid hemorrhage(SAH)from an intracranial vertebral artery(VA)dissection in a patient with fibromuscular dysplasia(FMD)who presented with headache. A 54-year-old woman complained of spontaneous occipital headache. The dilatation of the left VA was detected on magnetic resonance angiography(MRA). She was diagnosed with left VA dissection(headache onset type). After sudden onset of headache on the second day of hospitalization, her consciousness level, as defined by the Japan Coma Scale, was 300. Computed tomography(CT)revealed SAH. Cerebral angiography showed the dilatation of the left intracranial VA and contrast material pooling, which was suspected to be a sign of dissection. We performed VA intravascular ligation by coil embolization. The postoperative course was good but postoperative MRA revealed arterial wall irregularities in both the extra cranial internal carotid artery and the right VA. Cerebral angiography showed the presence of the string-of-beads sign at these arteries. She was diagnosed with FMD. SAH might develop during the follow-up period in patients with VA dissection, even those in whom the initial symptom is headache. In addition, cases of FMD might also be complicated by various lesions of the main trunk of the cerebral artery.