Abstract

This chapter contains detailed, up-to-date information about the nature, diagnosis, and treatment of those relatively uncommon types of cerebrovascular disease that cause strokes. Although many of the conditions discussed are rare, the chapter covers the causes of up to 10% to 15% of all strokes and of up to 40% of strokes in young adults. This chapter may be an essential resource to help physicians diagnose and treat stroke patients who do not fit well into the usual clinical categories.

Discussed within are the dissection of carotid and vertebral arteries, the more relevant cause of stroke in the young. The collagen vascular disorders causing stroke as a consequence of dissection , occlusion and, more rarely, rupture of extracranial and intracranial arteries are reported in detail. Various forms of cerebral angiitis, with focus on the primary central system vasculitis and reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome are discussed.