Advances in the Pathogenesis, Diagnosis and Treatment of Bow Hunter's Syndrome: A Comprehensive Review of the Literature

摘要

Bow hunter's syndrome (BHS), also known as rotational vertebral artery (VA) occlusion syndrome, is a rare yet treatable type of symptomatic vertebrobasilar insufficiency resulting from mechanical occlusion or stenosis of the VA during head and neck rotation or extension. The symptoms of BHS range from transient vertigo to posterior circulation stroke. The underlying pathology is dynamic stenosis or compression of the VA by abnormal bony structures with neck rotation or extension in many cases, such as osteophyte, disc herniation, cervical spon-dylosis, tendinous bands or tumors. Imaging approaches, such as Doppler sonography, computed tomography and angiography, as well as magnetic resonance imaging and angiogra-phy, are widely used in the diagnosis and evaluation of this syndrome.