Spontaneous cervical and cerebral arterial dissections: diagnosis and management

Arterial dissections of head and neck arteries were first identified pathologically in the 1950s, but not until the 1970s and the 1980s did they begin to be widely recognized as a clinical entity. Carotid and vertebral artery dissections account for only 2% of all ischemic strokes, but they account for approximately 20% of thromboembolic strokes in patients younger than 45 years. The cause of supra-aortic dissections can be either spontaneous or traumatic. This article addresses spontaneous cervical and cerebral artery dissections.