Acute basilar artery occlusion is a potentially fatal disease that can cause brainstem
and cerebellar strokes. Traumatic
vertebral artery dissection is one of the most common causes of basilar artery occlusion
in young patients. We present
the case of a 23-year-old woman with vertebral artery dissection complicated by basilar
artery occlusion 4 days after
a traffic accident that caused severe neurological deficits, cortical blindness. Computed
tomographic angiography
showed total occlusion of the basilar artery, and right vertebral artery dissection
from the third to the fourth seg-
ments. Cranial MR examination confirmed the complete emollition of both visual cortices.
We should always think
about dissection of the vertebral artery in polytraumatized patients or when the head-neck
region makes a sudden
flexion-extension movement like torsion or whiplash. Extracranial vascular dissection
can occur even without a frac-
ture or injury to the skull and cervical spine. If basilar vessel occlusion is detected,
radiological signs of vertebral
artery dissection should always be sought.
