[Posterior cerebral artery territory infarcts due to carotid dissection].
BACKGROUND
About 20% of strokes in individuals under 45 years of age are due to cervicocephalic artery dissection. The magnetic resonance should be the first option in the diagnostic process when this etiology is suspected. Posterior fetal circulation is a variant in the embryogenic development that may cause posterior territory infarcts in carotid dissections or stenosis.


METHODS
We report the case of a 51 year-old male patient, with left occipitotemporal acute infarct and occlusion of the internal carotid and left posterior cerebral arteries as well as a probable carotid origin of the posterior cerebral artery. These findings were found in the duplex doppler sonography and were confirmed in the cranial magnetic resonance which also showed a dissection in the distal segment of the left internal carotid artery with a mural clot.


CONCLUSIONS
Posterior territory strokes due to spontaneous carotid dissection are rare and there are few cases reported in the literature. We have reviewed the previous literature on this topic.
Massot Tarrús
A
A
Servicio de Neurología, Hospital Universitario Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona. andreumass@hotmail.com
Molina Cateriano
C
C
Rovira Cañellas
A
A
Alvarez-Sabín
J
J
D020215:Carotid Artery, Internal, Dissection / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D020762:Infarction, Posterior Cerebral Artery / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017585:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Transcranial