Abstract
Vertebral artery dissection in two patients with traumatic brain and cervical spine
injury was treated in the intensive care unit. In both cases vertebral artery dissection
was suspected solely by the presence of ischemic lesions on the cervical spine and
by magnetic resonance imaging of the brain, performed because of a failure to recover
consciousness. In the intensive care unit patients with head and neck trauma, symptoms
of posterior circulation ischemia due to traumatic vertebral artery dissection, often
overlap with those with traumatic brain injury. A high level of suspicion for vertebral
artery dissection has to be maintained in order to prompt further investigation in
to these cases.
