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Internal Carotid Artery Dissection and Pseudoaneurysm

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Most of the pseudoaneurysms of the carotid artery

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within the carotid sheath are secondary to trauma or

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from iatrogenic reasons because of previous surgery.

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However, this was an unusual case of an individual

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who had miliary TB.

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We start in the chest, seeing all of these

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infiltrations in the bilateral lung as well

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as seeing axillary lymphadenopathy.

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If we follow up the left common carotid artery

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as it takes off from the aorta,

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what we see is a tortuous segment.

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And then as it enters the left side of the neck,

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you notice that there is this large mass which is

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associated with narrowing of the

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left common carotid artery.

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And there is a little jet effect of contrast

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entering into this abnormal area deep

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to the sternocleidomastoid muscle.

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So let me just point that out right here.

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Here is what I'm talking about.

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This hyperdense mass in the left side of the neck.

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This is the normal ICA lumen which is narrowed.

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And here we see a little jet of contrast coming from

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the internal carotid artery and entering

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into this big slightly hyperdense mass.

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This is a carotid pseudoaneurysm where you have the

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contrast entering into the aneurysm lumen as well as

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areas where there is clot within the wall of the

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pseudoaneurysm. So here we again can see it.

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It's abnormal common carotid artery from the get-go.

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We compare the left common carotid artery to the

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normal right common carotid artery as far as the

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luminal narrowing and then we see the jet effect of

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contrast entering into this mass which is the pseudo

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aneurysm that is associated with

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the common carotid artery.

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Further distally, the common carotid artery assumes

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a more normal shape and a more normal lumen.

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So let's try to see whether we can see

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this on the coronal reconstruction.

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So we identify the carotid artery here,

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the common carotid artery, and we see the area of

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dissection narrowing of the blood vessel and then a

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jet phenomena of contrast coming off of the

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lateral wall of the common carotid artery.

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And we even get a little sense of swirling of

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contrast associated with the pseudoaneurysm

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in the left side of the neck.

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Again, this is an unusual location and etiology

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for this pseudoaneurysm.

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Most of them are going to occur in

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the internal carotid artery,

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further superiorly in the cervical portion of the

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internal carotid artery secondary to trauma.

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This was a case where the presumed etiology was

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tuberculosis affecting the artery leading to a

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pseudoaneurysm in this big "S" in

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the supraclavicular fossa.

Report

Description

Faculty

David M Yousem, MD, MBA

Professor of Radiology, Vice Chairman and Associate Dean

Johns Hopkins University

Tags

Vascular Imaging

Vascular

Neuroradiology

Neuro

Infectious

Head and Neck

CT

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