DISSECTION OF INTRACRANIAL VERTEBRAL ARTERIES REVEALED BY SUBARACHNOID HEMORRHAGE - REPORT OF 7 CASES

Between April 1986 and April 1991, seven cases of meningeal haemorrhage consecutive to dissection of the 4th segment of a vertebral artery were observed at the Neuroradiology Department of the Nancy University Hospital. Four of the 7 patients were men, and 3 were women; mean age varied from 45 to 61 years. The clinical presentation was not suggestive, except in one case where the haemorrhagic episode was associated with Wallenberg's syndrome, pointing to the aetiological diagnosis. The outcome was variable. Two patients died of early complications of the haemorrhage which occurred before treatment could be given. In 2 others patients treated with antiplatelet agents the outcome was favourable; however, at angiography the lesions regressed in one of these two patients, but they progressed in the other with formation of a false aneurysm. The remaining 3 patients were treated by endovascular occlusion of the lesion-bearing vessel: one died of complications of a haemorrhage-induced vasospasm; the other two are symptomless after a 2 to 6 months follow-up.