ABSTRACT
A 73-year-old man was admitted at another hospital after a traffic accident. The diagnosis was cervical vertebral fracture. Despite conservative treatment, 5 days later he manifested dysarthria due to cerebellar infarction and was transferred to our hospital. Imaging studies revealed right vertebral arterial dissection at the level of the axial fracture. We performed percutaneous transluminal angioplasty with stenting to address his subacute vertebral artery dissection prior to treating the cervical vertebral fracture using external fixation. His clinical course was good;ischemia did not recur after stenting and his dysarthria disappeared upon rehabilitation. Cerebral angiograms obtained 6 months later revealed no significant in-stent restenosis. While medical management tends to be the first-line treatment of traumatic vertebral artery dissection, percutaneous transluminal angioplasty with stenting is necessary before treating other traumatic lesions to prevent neurologic events.
