[Dissection of the intracranial arteries. Apropos of 10 cases]

Ten cases of spontaneous dissection of the cerebral arteries are reported. 3 males and 7 females aged 6 to 60 years (mean age 30 years) were investigated in the Department of Neuroradiology of Toulouse between 1989 and 1994 with CT, angiography and MRI. In 5 cases the dissection involved the carotid artery, in 5 cases the vertebro-basilar system. The clinical presentation was of two types: ischaemic stroke (7 cases) or subarachnoid haemorrhage (3 cases). Their evolution is never lethal, contrary to the classical descriptions of the literature. In all cases an initial angiography then follow up has been performed showing an irregular located arterial stenosis. The diagnosis of intracranial dissection is sometimes made in front of a dissequant aneurysm. In case of doubt, magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is helpful showing a linear hypersignal parallel to an arterial segmental stenosis, and angiography MR an irregular aspect and stenosis of the endoluminal artery.