LETTERS

Medulla compression caused by vertebrobasilar dolichoectasia

Compressão medular causada por dolicoectasia vertebrobasilar

Pedro Enrique Jiménez Caballero^I; Ignacio Casado Naranjo^II

^IFacultativo Especialista en Neurología, Departamento de Neurología, Hospital San Pedro de Alcántara, Espanha

^IIJefe de Sección, Departamento de Neurología, Hospital San Pedro de Alcántara, Espanha

^{Correspondence} Correspondence: Pedro Enrique Jiménez Caballero Departamento de Neurología; Hospiral San Pedro de Alcántara Avenida Pablo Naranjo s/n 10003 Cáceres - Espanha E-mail: pjimenez1010j@yahoo.es

Vertebrobasilar dolichoectasia (VBD) is a distinct arteriopathy characterized by elongation and dilatation of basilar and vertebral arteries. Prevalence is estimated to be 0.05%¹.

VBD may be asymptomatic or associated with clinical manifestations, such as posterior circulation stroke, intracranial bleeding, cranial nerve disorders, compression of brainstem or obstructive hydrocephalus². Medullary compression by the vertebral artery (VA) is a little known clinical entity in the medical literature.

CASES REPORT

A 53-year-old man presented to our outpatient department with complaints of slurring of speech and dizziness with imbalance while walking since eight months. He had not risk factors and was ruled out polycystic kidney disease. On examination, he had left Horner syndrome, dysarthria, mild left limb ataxia and bilateral pyramidalism with right babinsky sign. Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with angiography (Fig 1 and 2) revealed

Received 10 November 2011

Received in final form 09 December 2011

Accepted 16 December 2011

Conflict of interest: There is no conflict of interest to declare.

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