552 J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry: first published as 10.1136/jnnp.72.4.552 on 1 April 2002. Downloaded from

LETTERS Vertebral presenting as neuralgic amyotrophy S Berroir, M Sarazin, P Amarenco ......

J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2002;72:552–554

ertebral artery dissection usually presents with neck, Brain MRI showed an enlarged left obstruct- occipital, or shoulder pain along with symptoms of ing the foramen and compressing the nerve roots (fig 1 B). Vischaemic stroke in the posterior circulation. Isolated Oral anticoagulant treatment was prescribed for 2 months. pain, asymptomatic cases, or misleading presentation mimick- The patient fully recovered over 5 weeks. Follow up ultrasound ing migraine or have been seldom examination showed normalisation of the artery. reported. Peripheral upper limb deficit1–3 or isolated radicular The sequence of pain deficit amyotrophy in our patient neuralgia4 due to vertebral artery dissection have also been mimicked a Parsonage-Turner syndrome. The clinical presen- reported. However, a clinical presentation mimicking a tation with isolated painful C5 C6 nerve injury and Parsonage-Turner syndrome has not been reported. subsequent severe motor deficit, without any clinical or radio- A 40 year old man had a rapidly increasing, intense left logical sign of posterior circulation stroke, was remarkable by scapular, and left cervical pain followed by tactile, tempera- the rapid amyotrophy and the intensity of sensory loss. The ture, and pain sensory loss over the left shoulder and the neck. correct diagnosis of vertebral artery dissection was not On the third day, he had gradually increasing proximal weak- suspected and would have been missed without CT. The ness of the upper limb while pain progressively improved mechanisms was likely a direct root compression by the within a week. At that time, the clinical diagnosis was typical enlarged vertebral artery at the intervertebral segment as of a Parsonage-Turner syndrome and the patient was on non- shown in figure 1 B. The course of symptoms, radicular distri- steroidal anti-inflammatory treatment. On the 10th day, bution, predominance of motor weakness, and fast recovery neurological examination showed nearly complete deficit and are consistent with radicular compression. Hetzel et al2 amyotrophy of biceps, brachialis, deltoid, and supra and infra described three cases of upper limb radicular injury associated spinatus. He had no left bicipital and styloradial tendon with ipsilateral vertebral artery dissection after chiropractic reflexes. He had hypaesthesia to pain, temperature, and manipulation. Neck pain followed by severe C5-C6 motor root pinprick in the left C4-C5 dermatoma. He had no neck involvement with no evidence of ischaemic stroke were the contracture, pain, or limitation in neck movements and he presenting symptoms in two cases. Dubard et al1 described a 31 recalled that 2 days before the symptom onset, he had had year old woman with a left C5 motor deficit due to a left ver- neck hyperextension during several hours of cleaning a chim- tebral artery dissection. De Bray et al3 reported three cases of ney. A CT of the neck showed an enlarged left vertebral artery vertebral artery disection associated with radicular C5-C6 with narrowing of the lumen, surrounded by a thin croissant motor deficit. In one case, no sign of CNS involvement was http://jnnp.bmj.com/ of contrast enhancement, mainly at the C5-C6 level. Ultra- found. Cervical root compressions have been shown in these sound examination of the left vertebral artery showed widen- cases. Prognosis of cervical radicular palsy associated with ing of the vessel diameter in its intertransverse portion vertebral artery dissection seems to be excellent as all the presumably due to dissecting haematoma (fig 1 A). x Ray reported patients fully recovered. angiography showed of the V2 segment of the extrac- Other mechanisms of upper limb involvement in relation to ranial vertebral artery suggestive of a dissection (fig 1 A). vertebral artery disease have been reported such as watershed on September 26, 2021 by guest. Protected copyright.

Figure 1 (A) x Ray angiography shows irregular stenosis of the left vertebral artery suggestive of a dissection (thin arrows). (B) Axial T2 weighted MRI shows dissecting haematoma displacing the left C5 root (wide arrow).

www.jnnp.com Vertebral artery dissection presenting as neuralgic amyotrophy 553 J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry: first published as 10.1136/jnnp.72.4.552 on 1 April 2002. Downloaded from infarct in the anterior spinal artery territory due to reduced Bichat Hospital and Formation de Recherche en Neurologie Vasculaire flow in a dominant vertebral artery,5 traumatic pseudoaneu- (Association Claude Bernard), Paris, France rysm, ischaemia of the C5 root due to giant cell of the Correspondence to: Dr S Berroir, Department of Neurology, Hôpital vertebral artery, and coiling of the vertebral artery at the C6 Lariboisière, 2 Rue Ambroise Paré, 75010 Paris, France; level. [email protected] In conclusion, severe neck pain followed by upper limb radicular deficit and severe amyotrophy, so called Parsonage- Turner syndrome, is an unusual clinical feature of vertebral REFERENCES artery dissection. History of neck injury, chiropractic manipu- lation, or unusual neck motion during the days before onset 1 Dubard T, Pouchet J, Lamy C, et al. Upper limb peripheral motor deficit due to vertebral dissection. Cerbrovasc Dis 1994;4:88–91. should prompt clinicians to perform neck ultrasound exam- 2 Hetzel A, Berger W, Schumacher M, et al. Dissection of the vertebral ination and CT or MRI to ensure the correct diagnosis and artery with cervical root lesions. J Neurol 1996;243:121–5. appropriate treatment. 3 De Bray, Penisson-Besnier I, Giroud M, et al. Peripheral motor deficit and three vertebral artery dissection. Rev Neurol (Paris) 1998;154:762–6...... 4 Garnier P, Michel D, Liotier J, et al. Radicular neuralgia associated with Authors’ affiliations two cases of vertebral artery dissection. Rev Neurol (Paris) S Berroir, Department of Neurology, Lariboisière Hospital, 2 Rue 2000;156:278–80. Ambroise Paré, 75010 Paris, France 5 Pullicino P. Bilateral distal upper limb amyotrophy and watershed M Sarazin, P Amarenco, Department of Neurology and Stroke Center, infarcts from vertebral dissection. Stroke 1994;25:1870–2.

Postoperative of the superficial temporal artery G Y F Lee, R T Daniel, S Halcrow ......

J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2002;72:553–555

seudoaneurysms of the superficial temporal artery (STA) The patient re-presented 3 months later. A lump had devel- are rare lesions. Reported cases typically occur after blunt oped over the preceding weeks in the preauricular region Ptrauma or penetrating injuries to the scalp along the under the surgical scar. On clinical examination, a 3×3×2cm course of the STA. However, such a complication after cranial pulsatile mass was seen. It was located anterior to the tragus surgery has not previously been reported. and at the inferior end of the scalp incision. There was no A 52 year old man initially presented with Hunt and Hess overlying cutaneous erythema. The wound was explored by grade 2 subarachnoid haemorrhage. Subsequent cerebral reopening the inferior limb of the incision. angiography demonstrated a left middle cerebral artery bifur- The STAs proximal and distal to the were identi- http://jnnp.bmj.com/ cation aneurysm. The patient underwent a left pterional fied (fig 1) and ligated. The lesion was dissected off the craniotomy for clipping of the aneurysm. Postoperatively, the patient developed transient dysphasia, which completely resolved over several days. On discharge at 3 weeks, the patient had made a good recovery...... Abbreviations: STA, superficial temporal artery on September 26, 2021 by guest. Protected copyright.

Figure 1 Intraoperative photograph showing the dissected pseudoaneurysm with the proximal (A) and distal artery (B).

www.jnnp.com 554 Berroir, Sarazin, Amarenco J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry: first published as 10.1136/jnnp.72.4.552 on 1 April 2002. Downloaded from surrounding soft tissue and excised. Histopathological exam- ...... ination confirmed the diagnosis of pseudoaneurysm. Authors’ affiliations Pseudoaneurysm of the STA is very uncommon and is usu- GYFLee,RTDaniel, S Halcrow, Department of Neurosurgery, Royal ally associated with blunt trauma.1–3 These lesions present as a Adelaide Hospital, Level 5, Theatre Block, North Terrace Adelaide, SA 5000, South Australia painless pulsating mass and sometimes their size may rapidly increase.1 These lesions may also be associated with headache, Correspondence to: Dr R T Daniel, Department of Neurosurgery, Royal ear discomfort or very rarely facial nerve palsy.3 There have Adelaide Hospital, Level 5, Theatre Block, North Terrace Adelaide, SA also been reports of of the STA after bypass 5000, South Australia procedures involving STA and intracranial vessels.45 These Received 25 June 2001 may rupture with consequent subarachnnoid4 or intracerebral In revised form 25 October 2001 hemorrhage.5 Accepted 25 October 2001 Pseudoaneurysm of the STA as a complication of crani- REFERENCES otomy has not been reported in the literature to the best of our 1 Choo MJ, Yoo IS, Song HK. A traumatic pseudoaneurysm of the knowledge. We think that inadvertent damage to a segment of superficial temporal artery. Yonsei Med J 1998;39:180–3. the STA not involving the entire thickness of the vessel wall 2 Han K, Borah GL. Pseudoaneurysm of the anterior superficial temporal artery. Ann Plast Surg 1996;37:650–3. (possibly by electrocautery) in the process of fashioning the 3 Lalak NJ, Farmer E. Traumatic pseudoaneurysm of the superficial scalp flap, led to the formation of a pseudoaneurysm. The pul- temporal artery associated with facial nerve palsy. J Cardiovasc Surg (Torino) 1996;37:119–23. satile nature of the lesion and its location rendered the 4 Morgan M, Besser M, Tuck R. Pseudoaneurysm complicating superficial pre-operative diagnosis and subsequent surgical treatment temporal artery superior cerebellar artery bypass. Surg Neurol simple. In retrospect, we recommend that where there is sus- 1986;26:277–81. 5 Nishizawa S, Yokoyama T, Sugiyama K, et al. Intracerebral hemorrhage picion of injury to the STA this vessel should be ligated or from a ruptured pseudoaneurysm after STA-MCA anastomosis: case coagulated and then divided. report. Neurol Med Chir (Tokyo) 2000;40:408–12. http://jnnp.bmj.com/ on September 26, 2021 by guest. Protected copyright.

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