Published in:
Open Access 01-12-2012 | Case report
Corkscrew angiopathy of intracranial vessels in a young stroke patient: a case report
Published in: Journal of Medical Case Reports | Issue 1/2012
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Introduction
We present a rare finding of a ‘corkscrew appearance’ of the distal cerebral vessels in a young Asian woman who presented with acute stroke.
Case presentation
A 32-year-old Asian woman presented with a 3-month history of recurrent right-sided transient ischemic attacks. Her clinical workup and brain imaging results were normal. A digital subtraction angiogram revealed an abnormal corkscrew appearance of all intracranial distal vessels. She was discharged on a single antiplatelet drug. She had no further transient ischemic attacks on clinical follow-up. A digital subtraction angiogram performed 1 year later revealed no changes in the appearance of these vessels.
Conclusion
To the best of our knowledge no similar previous reports exist in the literature. The present report describes a unique case of an unusual corkscrew appearance of the distal intracranial vessels. However, the underlying etiology in the present case remains unknown.