BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE There is little information to provide an estimate for stroke risk in patients with established stenosis or occlusion in the basilar or intracranial vertebral arteries undergoing surgical procedures. The objective of this study was to determine the ischemic stroke risk in this specific patient population. METHODS A medical records linkage system retrospectively identifi...

BACKGROUND Anatomic variety and difficult accessibility of the vertebrobasilar arteries pose considerable problems to conventional ultrasound. We evaluated the diagnostic potential of transcranial color-coded sonography in the distal part of this system. METHODS We insonated the intracranial section of the vertebrobasilar arteries through the foramen magnum window in 24 healthy individuals us...

PURPOSE To determine the normal anatomical features and variations of the vertebrobasilar circulation and its branches in patients who underwent multidetector computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance (MR) angiographies of the brain. METHODS 135 patients (male, 83 and female, 52; mean age, 50.1 years) who underwent CT (n = 71) or MR (n = 64) angiographies of the vertebrobasilar vasculatu...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The rate of PICA occlusion after flow-diverting stent placement for vertebral and vertebrobasilar artery aneurysms is not known. The purpose of this study is to determine the medium-term rate of PICA patency and risk factors for occlusion after such aneurysm treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS Patients were identified who had vertebral or vertebrobasilar artery aneurysms a...

Atherosclerosis is a common finding in the vertebrobasilar junction and in the basilar artery. Several theories try to link the process of atherogenesis with the forces exerted by the flowing blood. An attractive relation has been found between the locations in vessels at which atherosclerotic plaques are often present and the locations in models where complicated flow patterns exist. Most of t...

Vertebrobasilar dolichoectasia (VBD) is an uncommon vasculopathy of unclear aetiology affecting the arterial wall of vertebral and/or basilar arteries, which is easily misdiagnosed. The review summarizes research datas of VBD in recent years respectively from epidemiology, etiology and pathology, diagnosis, clinical manifestation and mechanism, treatment and prognosis, aiming to provide basis f...

Bow hunter's stroke (BHS) is a cerebrovascular disease caused by occlusion of the vertebral artery (VA) on head rotation. BHS is generally associated with hemodynamic changes, often leading to vertebrobasilar insufficiency symptoms, such as vertigo and faintness. Although artery-to-artery embolism has also been proposed as an underlying mechanism, it remains controversial. This report documents...

Painful tic convulsif is a syndrome restricted to paroxysmal dysfunction of the fifth and seventh cranial nerves. It occurs primarily in women over the age of 50 years and is usually associated with an ectatic vertebrobasilar artery--less frequently an arteriovenous malformation or cholesteatoma--which compresses the trigeminal and facial nerve roots in the posterior fossa. In rare instances th...

Fenestrated vertebrobasilar junction aneurysms are rare vascular lesions. Microsurgical intervention is extremely difficult due to the complex anatomy in the vicinity of these aneurysms. Endovascular neurosurgery appears to be safe and should be considered as the first modality of treatment. This case study details the treatment of an unruptured fusiform fenestrated vertebrobasilar junction ane...