Pure sensory stroke revealing a complex malformation of extra- and intracranial cerebral arteries

Pure sensory strokes (PSS) are usually due to thalamic lacunar infarcts. We report a case of PSS in a 34-year-old female suffering from migraine who complained of sudden isolated left-sided paresthesia involving face, upper and lower limbs. We found a complex vascular abnormality associating internal carotid artery occlusion, posterior cerebral artery agenesia, aneurysm at the posterior face of the carotid siphon and angiomatous rete at the top of the basilar artery. The acquired origin of the carotid artery occlusion by possible neonatal dissection is probable since this patient has a permeable carotid canal on CT scan.