title: The association of connective tissue disorders with cervical artery dissections.
abstract: A predisposing weakness of the vessel wall has been assumed in patients with spontaneous cervical artery dissections (sCAD). Skin biopsies from many patients with sCAD show mild connective tissue alterations. However, their assessment depends on an invasive and highly specialized technique. Clinical signs of connective tissue disease are absent in the majority of CAD patients. In this review we document that only very few CAD patients are affected by known inherited connective tissue disorders like Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, Marfan syndrome or Osteogenesis Imperfecta. In a second part of this review we discuss the possible role of unrecognized or unknown forms of connective tissue disorders in the etiology of CAD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Heidelberg, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany. caspar_grond-ginsbach@med.uni-heidelberg.de
authors.forename: Caspar
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Grond-Ginsbach
authors.forename: Stéphanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Debette
mesh_terms: D000784:Aortic Dissection / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D001808:Blood Vessels / Q000473:pathology*; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae; D003240:Connective Tissue Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D004535:Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008382:Marfan Syndrome / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology; D010013:Osteogenesis Imperfecta / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology