Isolated Traumatic Vertebral Pseudoaneurysm: Report of a Case

We report a case of isolated traumatic pseudoaneurysm of the vertebral artery in a 20-year-old man who suffered blunt injury to the left foreneck and arm in a traffic accident. A chest computed tomography (CT) scan on admission showed an upper mediastinal hematoma, but the patient's vital signs were stable. A CT scan of the head and neck showed a cerebral mass, and an elective cerebral four-vessel angiography was performed, whitch revealed a pseudoaneurysm in the proximal portion of the left vertebral artery. At surgery, about 2 cm of the left vertebral artery was found to be lacerated, and suture ligation was done on each side of the laceration. Postoperative intravenous digital subtraction angiography showed an intact right vertebral artery with no residual pseudoaneurysm. There were no neurological complications and the patient was discharged on the 16th postoperative day. Received: December 13, 2001 / Accepted: July 2, 2002 Reprint requests to: T. Saito