Published Online
on June 12, 2003

A more recent version of this article appeared on July 1, 2003

This Article Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 34/7/e79    most recent 01.STR.0000078309.56307.5Cv1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Guillon, B. Articles by Tzourio, C. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Guillon, B. Articles by Tzourio, C. Pubmed/NCBI databases Medline Plus Health Information Stroke Related Collections Carotid and Vertebral A. Dissection Risk Factors for Stroke

Submitted on February 17, 2003
Accepted on February 21, 2003

Infection and the Risk of Spontaneous Cervical Artery Dissection. A Case-Control Study

Benoît Guillon MD^*; Karine Berthet MD; Lamia Benslamia MD; Marion Bertrand MSc; Marie-Germaine Bousser MD; and Christophe Tzourio MD, PhD

From Department of Neurology, Nantes Hospital, Nantes (B.G.); Department of Neurology, Lariboisière Hospital, Paris (C.T., K.B., L.M., M.-G.B.); and INSERM Unit 360, Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris (C.T., M.B.), France

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: benoit.guillon{at}chu-nantes.fr.

Background and Purpose--Several constitutional and environmental risk factors may be involved in the occurrence of spontaneous cervical artery dissection (SCAD). This work explored the association between recent infection and SCAD in an hospital-based case-control study.

Methods--Forty-seven patients with SCAD and 52 with ischemic stroke from another cause were prospectively and consecutively recruited by 2 neurology departments. A specially designed questionnaire was used to assess the history of an acute infection that could have occurred within a month before the vascular event.

Results--Acute infection was more frequent in patients with SCAD (31.9%) than in control subjects (13.5%) (crude odds ratio, 3.0; 95% confidence interval, 1.1 to 8.2; P=0.032). This association was stronger in patients with multiple (odds ratio, 6.4) than single artery (odds ratio, 2.1) dissection.

Conclusions--Recent infection is a risk factor and could be a trigger for SCAD.

Key words: cerebral ischemia • dissection • infection • risk factors

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M Paciaroni, D Georgiadis, M Arnold, J Gandjour, B Keseru, G Fahrni, V Caso, and R W Baumgartner Seasonal variability in spontaneous cervical artery dissection J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry, May 1, 2006; 77(5): 677 - 679. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. Longoni, C. Grond-Ginsbach, A. J. Grau, J. Genius, S. Debette, M. Schwaninger, C. Ferrarese, and C. Lichy The ICAM-1 E469K gene polymorphism is a risk factor for spontaneous cervical artery dissection Neurology, April 25, 2006; 66(8): 1273 - 1275. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J.-M. de Bray and R. W. Baumgartner History of Spontaneous Dissection of the Cervical Carotid Artery Arch Neurol, July 1, 2005; 62(7): 1168 - 1170. [Full Text] [PDF]

				B Thanvi, S K Munshi, S L Dawson, and T G Robinson Carotid and vertebral artery dissection syndromes Postgrad. Med. J., June 1, 2005; 81(956): 383 - 388. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]