[A case of recanalized basilar artery following basilar artery occlusion due to spontaneous dissection]

An 85-year-old man who did not have any previous history of heart disease was admitted to our hospital with the chief complaints of disturbance of consciousness, tetraparesis, and bilateral Babinski signs. On admission, intravenous digital subtraction angiography (DSA) showed bilatral vertebral arteries without filling the basilar artery. On the second hospital day, MRI showed a septum in the basilar artery, and no infarctions were noted in the brain stem. He gradually improved with heparin therapy. On the tenth hospital day, intravenous DSA disclosed filling of the basilar artery. On the sixteenth hospital day, conventional cerebral angiography revealed filling of the basilar artery from the left vertebral artery, and string sign and linear shadow (intimal flap) was noted in the basilar artery. He was diagnosed to have the basilar artery dissection. The patient became ambulatory and was discharged independently. This is very rare case of the basilar artery dissection with a good prognosis.