The aim of this study was to analyze the spectrum of clinical presentations of internal carotid artery dissection. Twenty-two patients with internal carotid artery dissection, mean age 39.02, were evaluated over the past ten years. Magnetic resonance imaging and magnetic resonance angiography were used to establish the diagnosis. Facial and neck pain and Horner's syndrome were the only presenting symptoms in 4 patients (without brain infarction); facial pain, Horner's syndrome and contralateral sensorimotor deficit in 6; headache and contralateral sensorimotor deficit in 2; contralateral sensorimotor deficit with or without speech impairment in 10. Internal carotid artery dissection was triggered by a trauma in 7, whereas it was spontaneous in 15. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed infarction in 18 patients. A good outcome (modified Rankin score 0-2) was seen in 20 patients. The spectrum of clinical presentations of internal carotid artery dissection is variable. Internal carotid artery dissection is not necessarily accompanied by infarction on magnetic resonance imaging.
The presented results of angles of insonation measurements for the anterior, middle and posterior cerebral arteries and their segments, as well as the terminal portion of the internal carotid artery clearly indicate that their average values in tested segments were very often higher than 30 degrees, which can cause an error in blood flow velocity measurement that cannot be ignored. The results confirm the necessity of correcting flow velocity values on the basis of the angle of insonation in TCCD sonography.
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