<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Female patients in the peripartum and postpartum periods have an increased risk of stroke than nonpregnant women. Cerebrovascular complications of pregnancy represent a significant cause of maternal mortality and morbidity and are potentially disabling. Acute basilar artery occlusion secondary to spontaneous vertebral artery dissection in the postpartum period is an infrequent entity and a major diagnostic and treatment challenge. In the present case, a 37-year-old female patient, eight weeks after caesarean delivery, presented with a history of sudden cervical pain, followed by headache and dizziness. Some hours later, she was found unconscious by her family and was transferred to the emergency department, where a neurological status assessment suggested vertebrobasilar stroke. The imagistic workup revealed right vertebral artery dissection and basilar artery occlusion without constituted ischemic lesions. The patient underwent endovascular intervention with dilation of the narrowed vertebral artery and stent retriever basilar artery thrombectomy, with a favourable clinical outcome. This report first presents the details of this case and the relevant literature data on postpartum arterial dissections and the subsequent ischemic complications and available treatment options.</p></abstract>

Female patients in the peripartum and postpartum periods have an increased risk of stroke than nonpregnant women. Cerebrovascular complications of pregnancy represent a significant cause of maternal mortality and morbidity and are potentially disabling. Acute basilar artery occlusion secondary to spontaneous vertebral artery dissection in the postpartum period is an infrequent entity and a major diagnostic and treatment challenge. In the present case, a 37-year-old female patient, eight weeks after caesarean delivery, presented with a history of sudden cervical pain, followed by headache and dizziness. Some hours later, she was found unconscious by her family and was transferred to the emergency department, where a neurological status assessment suggested vertebrobasilar stroke. The imagistic workup revealed right vertebral artery dissection and basilar artery occlusion without constituted ischemic lesions. The patient underwent endovascular intervention with dilation of the narrowed vertebral artery and stent retriever basilar artery thrombectomy, with a favourable clinical outcome. This report first presents the details of this case and the relevant literature data on postpartum arterial dissections and the subsequent ischemic complications and available treatment options.

Postpartum Acute Basilar Artery Occlusion Secondary to Vertebral Artery Dissection. Case Report and Literature Review

The Journal of Critical Care Medicine

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Female patients in the peripartum and postpartum periods have an increased risk of stroke than nonpregnant women. Cerebrovascular complications of pregnancy...

Postpartum Acute Basilar Artery Occlusion Secondary to Vertebral Artery Dissection. Case Report and Literature Review

Article Category: Case report

Published Online: Nov 06, 2021

Page range: 294 - 301

Received: Jan 17, 2021

Accepted: May 16, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jccm-2021-0015

Keywords
basilar artery occlusion, vertebral artery dissection, postpartum period, stroke

© 2021 Iulia-Adela Drăghici, Lucian Marginean, Rares-Cristian Filep, Zoltan Bajko, Laura Barcutean, Teodora Aldea, Rodica Balasa, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Postpartum Acute Basilar Artery Occlusion Secondary to Vertebral Artery Dissection. Case Report and Literature Review

Article Category: Case report

Published Online: Nov 06, 2021

Page range: 294 - 301

Received: Jan 17, 2021

Accepted: May 16, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jccm-2021-0015

Keywordsbasilar artery occlusion, vertebral artery dissection, postpartum period, stroke

© 2021 Iulia-Adela Drăghici, Lucian Marginean, Rares-Cristian Filep, Zoltan Bajko, Laura Barcutean, Teodora Aldea, Rodica Balasa, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Keywords
basilar artery occlusion, vertebral artery dissection, postpartum period, stroke