Spontaneous basilar artery dissection.

Cervicocerebral artery dissection is an uncommon aetiology in ischaemic stroke and accounts for approximately 2% of all cases.1 However, in patients younger than 45 years, arterial dissection is the second leading cause, accounting for 10 to 25% of ischaemic strokes in this age-group.2 Previous reports of cervicocerebral arterial dissection predominantly involved the extracranial artery, with the carotid and vertebral arteries constituting the majority of cases (8090%).3,4 With advances in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), dissections of intracranial arteries are increasingly being recognised. The supraclinoid segment of the internal carotid artery and the middle cerebral artery stem are sites with a predilection for intracranial arterial dissection. Isolated dissection of the basilar artery is rare.5 We report a patient with spontaneous dissection of the basilar artery resulting in pontine infarction and present the clinical and radiological features.