[Traumatic thrombosis of cerebral arteries]

The authors report 4 cases of angiographically diagnosed traumatic thromboses of cerebral arteries. In two of them thrombosis of the middle cerebral artery was present and in one of them it was confirmed on autopsy. In one case thrombosis involved the basilar artery and in another the subcallosal artery. The time between the injury and development of neurological manifestations was from several hours to several weeks. Major disturbances of consciousness at the time of onset of focal central nervous system lesion were never observed. Attention is called to the necessity of differential diagnosis of these conditions against traumatic haematoma. In the light of pertinent literature the problems of diagnosis, treatment and pathogenesis of traumatic cerebral arterial thrombosis are discussed.