Vertebral artery dissection

What it is

The vertebral artery lies below the circle of Willis and outside it, alongside the basilar artery and the posterior inferior cerebellar artery; the circle of Willis itself runs from the anterior communicating artery down to the posterior cerebral artery. What it gives is the lateral medullary syndrome, named Wallenberg syndrome, whose key artery is given as PICA, the posterior inferior cerebellar artery, or the vertebral artery itself.

Causes and risk

Neck manipulation is the event to look for. In the case set out, a 22 years old woman had neck pain, went to the chiropractor for neck manipulation, and then had left posterior neck pain, vertigo, ataxia, left facial numbness and hoarseness; she was dizzy and nauseated and was falling to the left while walking. Cervical artery dissection also sits on the list of less common causes of thunderclap headache.