What happens if vertebral artery is damaged?

In most cases, vertebral artery injury is due to an intimal tear. The torn, exposed endothelium promotes platelet aggregation and thrombus formation. This thrombus may cause local occlusion of the vessel, but more commonly, the clot will embolize to the cerebral circulation resulting in a stroke.

What is biffl injury?

Objective. Blunt traumatic cerebrovascular injury (TCVI) represents structural injury to a vessel due to high-energy trauma. The Biffl Scale is a widely accepted grading scheme for these injuries that was developed using digital subtraction angiography.

What are the side effects of vertebral artery dissection?

Download Audio Review. In the case of vertebral artery disease, symptoms may be minimal or severe. Symptoms run the gamut from vertigo, nausea and vomiting, changes in level of consciousness, headache, and speech disturbance as well as obvious severe neurologic deficits.

Does vertebral artery dissection cause neck pain?

Vertebral artery dissection (VAD) is increasingly identified as a cause of ischemic stroke in young adults. Patients most commonly present with neck pain, headache, visual disturbance, or focal extremity weakness.

What are the symptoms of vertebral artery occlusion?

Symptoms associated with vertebral artery occlusive disease include dizziness, vertigo, diplopia, perioral numbness, blurred vision, tinnitus, ataxia, bilateral sensory deficits, and syncope, all of which can be caused by other disease entities, including cardiac arrhythmias, orthostatic hypotension, and vestibular …

What is a vertebral artery dissection?

Vertebral artery dissection (VAD) is a flap-like tear of the inner lining of the vertebral artery, which is located in the neck and supplies blood to the brain. After the tear, blood enters the arterial wall and forms a blood clot, thickening the artery wall and often impeding blood flow.

What is blunt neck trauma?

Neck trauma is usually divided into two categories, blunt and penetrating trauma. Blunt Trauma-may result in crushed larynx, tracheal disruption, expanding hematoma, esophageal leak. Penetrating trauma-may result in injury to major vascular structures, pharynx, larynx, trachea, esophagus.

How long does it take for vertebral artery dissection to heal?

Arterial dissections heal within 3–6 mo, with resolution of stenosis seen in 90%. Dissecting aneurysms resolve on follow-up imaging in 5–40%, decrease in size in 15–30%, and remain unchanged in 50–65%.

How is a cervical artery dissection treated?

First-line treatment for cervical artery dissection usually is antiplatelet agents (such as aspirin) or anti-coagulation to prevent the formation of blood clots. Antiplatelet drugs such as aspirin or clopidogrel may used alone or in combination.

How long does neck pain last with vertebral artery dissection?

A headache or neck pain associated with vertebral artery dissection may precede the development of neurological symptoms by as long as 14 days. Patients may report vague neurological symptoms associated with the pain that may be transient.

Can an MRI show vertebral artery dissection?

Therefore, non-invasive diagnostic techniques such as CT angiography (CTA) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with MR angiography (MRA) are typically used. CTA has been shown to have high sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of vertebral artery dissection [4].