Dissecting aneurysm of the vertebral artery and cervical manipulation: a case report with autopsy

A 35-year-old woman with 3 weeks of cervical pain developed ischemia in the basilar artery territory following cervical manipulation. At autopsy, there was a dissecting aneurysm within the third segment of the right vertebral artery. The pathologic changes in the lower and the upper part of the dissecting aneurysm were different, indicating recurring bleeding. Cervical manipulation could have accounted for one recent dissection, but not for another, which was a few weeks old. This suggests that cervical pain, which prompted the manipulation, may have been the first symptom of the dissection, and manipulation of the neck precipitated the stroke by inducing bleeding within the dissecting aneurysm.