Predisposing factors and radiological features in patients with internal carotid artery dissection or vertebral artery dissection

Background Cervicocerebral artery dissection is an important cause of ischemic stroke in young and middle-aged individuals. However, very few studies have compared the differential features between internal carotid artery dissection (ICAD) and vertebral artery dissection (VAD), including both cervical and intracranial artery dissections. We conducted a study to investigate the predisposing factors and radiological features in patients with ICAD or VAD. Methods All cases diagnosed with cervicocerebral artery dissection, ICAD, or VAD were identified through a medical records database, between January 2010 and January 2020. Baseline characteristics, predisposing factors, and radiological features of ICAD versus VAD were compared. Results A total of 140 patients with cervicocerebral artery dissection were included in the study, including 84 patients in the ICAD group and 56 in the VAD group. The mean age of patients in the ICAD and VAD groups was 43.37 ± 14.01 and 41.00 ± 12.98 years old, respectively. Patients with ICAD were more likely to be men compared with VAD (85.71% vs. 67.86%, p = 0.012). The frequency of hypertension, diabetes, smoking, drinking, and cervical trauma did not differ between ICAD and VAD. Dissections of ICAD were more frequently at the extracranial portions of the artery compared with those of VAD (70.24% vs. 44.64%, p = 0.003). In contrast, dissections of VAD were more common in the intracranial artery (55.36% vs. 29.76%, p = 0.003). Radiologically, double lumen (36.90% vs. 19.64%, p = 0.029) and intimal flap (11.90% vs. 1.79%, p = 0.029) were more frequently observed in ICAD than in VAD, and dissecting aneurysms were less frequent (13.10% vs. 26.79%, p = 0.041). Conclusions The distributions of cervical and intracranial artery dissections were different between ICAD and VAD. The frequencies of radiological features detected in patients with ICAD and VAD also differed.