Recovery from multiple brain infarcts complicating basilar artery dissection

A 38-year-old woman suffered a spontaneous basilar artery dissection leading to bilateral occipital, right thalamic and cerebellar infarction and a dorsal midbrain syndrome. Computerized tomography showed left cerebellar, right thalamic and bilateral occipital infarctions and selective angiography showed a narrowed segment in the basilar artery, absent filling of the right superior cerebellar artery and narrowing of the right posterior cerebral artery. She improved rapidly without specific therapy and made a near full recovery. Basilar artery dissection, while often fatal, may have a benign outcome and we review the literature in this regard.