title: Duplication of the right vertebral artery: MRA findings and review of the literature.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Duplication of the vertebral artery (VA) is a rare vascular variant. To the best our knowledge, only fourteen cases have been reported with angiographic findings that they have dual origin of the VA from ipsilateral subclavian artery. Herein, we present a case of duplication of right VA which was incidentally detected by magnetic resonance (MR) angiography.
  
  
  METHODS
  A 69-year-old female patient presented with headache for 30 days. She underwent brain MR imaging with MR angiography for evaluating possible intracranial cause. There was a dual origin of the right vertebral artery (VA) as an incidental finding without other significant abnormalities.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Diagnosis of duplicated VA can be difficult due to its rarity and misinterpreted as the vascular dissection. In addition, a detailed knowledge of this variation is potentially important to prevent inadvertent challenges during endovascular procedure. Because duplicated VA has smaller lumen and usually enters the higher transverse foramen than those of normal side, it can be influence the choice or route of endovascular treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We suggested that the understanding of embryologic background about VA can be helpful to identify unexpected vascular findings on imaging studies in clinical practice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Inje University College of Medicine, Haeundae Paik Hospital, 875 Haeundae-ro, Haeundae-gu, Busan, 48108 Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jiyeon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Baik
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Gyeongsang National University School of Medicine and Gyeongsang National University Changwon Hospital, 11 Samjeongja-ro, Seongsan-gu, Changwon, 51472 Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Hye Jin
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Baek
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Gyeongsang National University School of Medicine and Gyeongsang National University Hospital, 79 Gangnam-ro, Jinju, 52727 Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Hwa Seon
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Research Institute for Convergence of Biomedical Science and Technology, Pusan National University Yangsan Hospital, 20 Geumo-ro, Mulgeum-eup, Yangsan, 50612 Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Kwang Ho
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Choi
keywords: Duplication; Magnetic resonance angiography; Vertebral artery