Dados do Trabalho

Título

Cervical pain and hypoglossal palsy: A cervical arterial dissection sign

RESUMO

A 42 year old man came to the emergency room presenting a sudden neck pain, on the left side, that had started while he was jogging. Soon after, he felt spams and difficulty moving his tongue inside the mouth, he denied any Other symptoms. On the physical examination there was no sign of lesion in the piramidal tract.
Soon after being admited, he underwent an AngioCT of the head and neck, that showed a dissection of the internal carotid artery, in its nasofaringeal portion, where it has close contact with the 4th segment of the XII cranial nerve, compressing it. Although it is the most affected cranial nerve in these lesions, 5% of the cases, this presentation in uncommon. For any patient with sudden neck pain, with associated XII nerve palsy it is imperative to investigate the possibility of carotid dissection, considering a dissection in the vertebral arteries as a differential diagnosis.