[Neck pain: when is it ominous?].

Three patients with acute severe neck pain, presented with and without neurological deficits. One patient had severe neck pain followed by autonomic dysfunction, aphagia and dysarthria. She had an vertebrobasilar infarction due to the etiology of a dissection of both vertebral arteries. In one patient with a subarachnoidal bleeding, were the complaints mainly started with severe neck pain. There was no aneurysma found. One patient presented with severe pain in the right side of the neck, shoulders and her right arm. She had a hemiparesis. Because of the suspicion of a cerebral infarction, additional anticoagulation was started. She developed a paraparalysis. Her diagnosis was an acute spontaneous cervical epidural hematoma In a few cases, the presence of solely per-acute neck pain is found as symptom of a subarachnoid hemorrhage. In cases of acute neck pain with alarm symptoms, the patient should be referred to the emergency department.