Thyroid autoimmunity and spontaneous cervical artery dissection.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The possibility that a disorder of immunity might have a role in the mechanism of local inflammatory alterations leading to spontaneous cervical artery dissection (sCAD) has been recently advocated. METHODS We explored this hypothesis in a case-control study, including patients with sCAD (n=29) and patients with non-CAD ischemic stroke (non-CAD; n=29). Serum levels of antithyroperoxidase, antithyroglobulin, and antithyroid-stimulating hormone receptor antibodies, antinuclear antibodies, antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies, antidouble-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid antibodies, antiextractable nuclear antigen antibodies, rheumatoid factor, C3 and C4 complement fraction, and cryoglobulins were measured in all subjects. RESULTS Antithyroid autoimmunity was found in 31.0% (9 of 29) of patients with sCAD and 6.9% (2 of 29) of patients with non-CAD ischemic stroke (P=0.041). CONCLUSIONS Autoimmunity may be involved in the process of local inflammation related to sCAD occurrence. The hypothesis that the arterial disease might be one phenotypic expression of a generalized activation of immunity warrants further investigations.