Skip to main content
Log in

Minor trauma may lead to traumatic internal carotid artery dissection

  • Practical Pearl
  • Published:
Neurocritical Care Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A farmer’s wife was slapped by her cow’s tail during milking. There was no obvious injury, but afterward she first developed unusual headaches of unknown origin and then a severe stroke 7 days later. Further diagnostics, including magnetic resonance imaging techniques, revealed a dissection of the carotid artery to be the reason for the stroke, probably caused by being hit by the cow’s tail. This case demonstrates that persisting unusual headaches, even after minor trauma, should lead to further diagnostic procedures and then therapeutic intervention for stroke prevention if necessary.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Schievink WI. Spontaneous dissection of the carotid and vertebral arteries. N Engl J Med 2001;344:898–906.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Pary LF, Rodnitzky RL. Traumatic internal carotid artery dissection associated with taekwondo. Neurology 2003;60: 1392–1393.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Kumar SD, Kumar V, Kaye W. Bilateral internal carotid artery dissection from vomiting. Am J Emerg Med 1998;16:669–670.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Hufnagel A, Hammers A, Schonle PW, Bohm KD, Leonhardt G. Stroke following chiropractic manipulation of the cervical spine. J Neurol 1999;246:683–688.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Gasecki AP, Kwiecinski H, Lyrer PA, Lynch TG, Baxter T. Dissections after childbirth. J Neurol 1999;246:712–715.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Ricchetti A, Becker M, Dulguerov P. Internal carotid artery dissection following rigid esophagoscopy. Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 1999;125:805–807.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Haneline MT, Croft AC, Frishberg BM. Association of internal carotid artery dissection and chiropractic manipulation. Neurologist 2003;9:35–44.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Lee WW, Jensen ER. Bilateral internal carotid artery dissection due to trivial trauma. J Emerg Med 2000;19:35–41.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Norris JW, Beletsky V, Nadareishvili ZG. Sudden neck movement and cervical artery dissection. The Canadian Stroke Consortium. CMAJ 2000;163:38–40.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Nadgir RN, Loevner LA, Ahmed T, et al. Simultaneous bilateral internal carotid and vertebral artery dissection following chiropractical manipulation: case report and review of the literature. Neuroradiology 2003;45:311–331.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Benninger DH, Georgiadis D, Kremer C, Studer A, Nedeltchev K, Baumgartner RW. Mechanism of ischemic infarct in spontaneous carotid dissection. Stroke 2004;35:482–485.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Roman Huber.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Huber, R., Kassubek, J. Minor trauma may lead to traumatic internal carotid artery dissection. Neurocrit Care 3, 254–256 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1385/NCC:3:3:254

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1385/NCC:3:3:254

Key Words

Navigation