Cervical cord compression by the anomalous vertebral artery presenting with neuralgic pain

Abstract

The authors report the case of a 59-year-old woman with progressive neck and arm pain that initially appeared in the neck and later extended to the shoulder and upper extremity. This pain was caused by compression of the cervical cord between the atlas and axis by the vertebral artery, and disappeared promptly following microvascular decompression.

Bilateral vasculopexy of anomalous vertebral arteries causing cervicomedullary compression: case report and technical note

“…Various materials like Gore-tex, silicon tapes and nylon threads have been used to lift the arteries from the cord. All the previously reported patients with bilateral vertebral artery compression have been treated with vertebral artery transposition and duroplasty [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]. In one patient, an additional prosthesis was also placed between the arteries and the cord [13].…”

“…Resection of the tumor with or without directly manipulating the vessel loop has been associated with lasting relief of symptoms. Ectatic and anomalous vertebral arterial loops resulting in cord compression have been identified only rarely [7,10,[13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]. We recently studied, on cadavers, the normal anatomy of vertebral artery in the region of craniovertebral junction [3].…”

Vascular Anomaly Causing Subclavian Steal and Cervical Myelopathy in a Dog: Diagnosis and Endovascular Management

“…Selective angiography allowed characterization of the primary anomaly (nonpatent proximal right subclavian artery) and resultant ectatic and anastomotic lesion. Definitive diagnosis of abnormal vessels in the absence of arteriovenous shunting requires catheter angiography 6,17 . Selective angiography is necessary to identify the anomalous structures and source.…”

Anomalous vertebral artery compression of the spinal cord at the cervicomedullary junction

“…Occasionally, anomalies of the vertebral arteries themselves become symptomatic. Vertebral artery anomalies have been reported to cause a variety of symptoms including neck and arm pain,[281112151819] occipital neuralgia,[4910] torticollis,[18] myelopathy,[36913141517] drop attack,[6] radiculopathy,[2] pyramidal tract signs,[61016] and cranial nerve deficits. [51617] …”