Lateral syndrome of the medulla oblongata (Wallenberg's syndrome) as a complication of a vertebral angiography. A case report.

In the case of Sahadevan and col. 2 3 the lateral ischemia of the medulla oblongata in a man 19 years old took place prior to the vertebral angiography and it was precisely the cause of this examination; as a complication following the mentioned angiography, a transient cortical blindness appeared. Incidentally, cortical blindness seems to constitute one of the most frequent complication of vertebral angiography, either by direct puncture of the vertebral vessel or by retrograde route 1 8 , or by catheterization 8 . 1 0 . 1 4 ; it is interesting to note that visual complications may also follow the angiography by carotid artery (Haney and Preston 7 ) . Other more infrequent forms of complications arising from vertebral angiographies may occur, including d'rect osteolytic lesion of the vertebral body 2 9 , myelomalacia of the cervical spinal cord 6 as well as varied forms of laryngeal involvement. Dobrek and co l . 5 emphazise the possible side effects of angiographies in patients over 50 years.