carotid dissection

Abstract

Stroke is more common in older patients; when it occurs in younger persons the causes may be slightly different. If adequately investigated, a cause can be ascertained in significant proportion of younger patients with stroke. Dissection of the internal carotid artery is an important cause of stroke in this age group and probably accounts for about 20% of cases. An association with elevated plasma homocysteine has been previously reported. We report a case of spontaneous internal carotid artery dissection associated with raised plasma homocysteine in a twenty-two year old, previously healthy man.