There is little doubt that cervical artery dissection causing stroke is associated with major trauma. 1 Willis et al 2 described several cases of unstable cervical fractures through the transverse foramina, among which 46% had associated asymptomatic vertebral artery dissection. Dissection is quite probably asymptomatic in many unrecognized posttraumatic cases. Indeed, many patients in the seri...

The annual incidence of cervical artery dissection is 2.6-3.0 per 100,000 population, and that of vertebral artery dissection, in particular, is 1-1.5 per 100,000 population. The mean age of patients with a cervical artery dissection is 46.3 years, and their male-to-female ratio is equivalent [1,2]. Cervical artery dissection may arise spontaneously or traumatically, even due to trivial events ...

This study presents a case of a 15-year-old boy who had a right vertebral artery dissection with distal embolization from repeated trauma from an occipital bony spicule. The authors hypothesize that this bony spicule was contacting the left vertebral artery during head rotation, resulting in trauma to the vessel and formation of emboli which then showered distally, causing strokes in the poster...