Diagnostic imaging in carotid artery dissection: a case report and review of current modalities.

BACKGROUND

This case report presents the challenges associated with the existing screening modalities in the diagnosis of carotid artery dissection, and also reviews the diagnostic efficiency, limitations, and recent advances in imaging technology.

CASE PRESENTATION: A 54-year-old man with blunt trauma and subsequent development of ischemic stroke and no clear initial evidence of carotid dissection with noninvasive screening, including magnetic resonance imaging, magnetic resonance angiography, and computed tomography angiography.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite emerging noninvasive imaging techniques, conventional angiography should still be considered to establish a diagnosis of carotid artery dissection, particularly when other imaging modalities are negative or inconclusive but a high degree of clinical suspicion exists based on symptoms or mechanism of injury.