Bilateral Vertebral Artery Injury in a Patient with Upper Cervical Spine Fractures Leading to Fatal Vertebrobasilar Infarction: A Case Report

摘要

Vertebral artery injury (VAI) following blunt trauma is a known phenomenon that has been gaining increasing attention in recent published reports[1-10]. An incidence of VAIs in 0.09%–0.53% of blunt trauma cases[1, 5, 11-13] and up to 24% of cervical spine injury cases[1] has been reported. However, the clinical consequences of such VAIs have not been clearly defined; thus, the degree to which such injuries should be worked up and treated is unclear. The associated neurologic events have generally been transient, with relatively rapid resolution of symptoms. There are few reported clinical cases with disabling and permanent neurological sequelae secondary to VAI following cervical spine fracture.