[Blunt injury of the vertebral artery: report of three cases]

The authors reported three cases, whose vertebral arteries had been injured by blunt trauma to the neck which was followed by cerebello-brainstem infarctions. Case 1: a 32-year-old man, who developed severe vertigo and nausea 7 days after a traffic accident. He showed neck pain and horizontal nystagmus on admission. Three days later, he became drowsy. CT scan of the head demonstrated right-side cerebellar infarction, and the angiography revealed an occlusion of the right vertebral artery at C4-5 level. After the removal of the right cerebellar hemisphere, he recovered neurologically and was discharged from the hospital, able to walk. Case 2: a 47-year-old man, who suddenly became comatose 6 hours after an accident. Plain CT demonstrated a highly dense basilar artery. Angiography revealed the occlusion of the left vertebral artery, and severe stenosis of the right vertebral artery. The basilar artery was not visualized. Anticoagulant therapy was started immediately. He survived, but he developed locked-in syndrome. Case 3: a 53-year-old man, who developed transient apnea after an injury. On admission, neurological examination showed horizontal nystagmus, weakness of his right upper limb, and sensory disturbance in the left side of the body. Neck traction was done for spinal C1 and C2 fractures. Twenty-one hours after the injury, he became comatose suddenly. The four-vessels angiography revealed the occlusion of both vertebral arteries. The basilar artery was visualized through the posterior communicating arteries. He died on the 6th day after the trauma.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)