Cervicocerebral arterial dissections (CAD) are an important cause of strokes in younger patients accounting for nearly 20% of strokes in patients under the age of 45 years.
Extracranial internal carotid artery dissections comprise 70%–80% and extracranial vertebral dissections account for about 15% of all CAD.
Aetiopathogenesis of CAD is incompletely understood, though trauma, respiratory infections, and underlying arteriopathy are considered important
lA typical picture of local pain, headache, and ipsilateral Horner’s syndrome followed after several hours by cerebral or retinal ischaemia is rare.
lDoppler ultrasound, MRI/MRA, and CT angiography are useful non-invasive diagnostic tests.
lThe treatment of extracranial CAD is mainly medical using anticoagulants or antiplatelet agents although controlled studies to show their effectiveness are lacking.
lThe prognosis of extracranial CAD is generally much better than that of the intracranial CAD.
lRecurrences are rare in CAD.