Unilateral and bilateral vertebral artery dissection following motor vehicle injury—Two cases and a mini-review

Abstract

Vertebral artery dissection in two patients with traumatic brain and cervical spine injury was treated in the intensive care unit. In both cases vertebral artery dissection was suspected solely by the presence of ischemic lesions on the cervical spine and by magnetic resonance imaging of the brain, performed because of a failure to recover consciousness. In the intensive care unit patients with head and neck trauma, symptoms of posterior circulation ischemia due to traumatic vertebral artery dissection, often overlap with those with traumatic brain injury. A high level of suspicion for vertebral artery dissection has to be maintained in order to prompt further investigation in to these cases.