Intracranial vertebral artery dissection resulting in fatal subarachnoid hemorrhage: clinical and histopathological investigations from a medicolegal perspective

Object Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) due to a ruptured intracranial vertebral artery (VA) dissection sometimes results in a sudden fatal outcome. The authors analyzed the relationship between clinical features and histopathological characteristics among fatal cases to establish valuable information for clinical diagnostics and prophylaxis. Methods This study included 58 medicolegal autopsy cases of ruptured intracranial VA dissection among 553 fatal nontraumatic cases of SAH that occurred between January 2000 and December 2007. Their clinical features were obtained from autopsy records. Histopathological investigations were performed on cross-sections obtained from all 4-mm segments of whole bilateral intracranial VAs and prepared with H & E and elastica van Gieson staining. Results The autopsy cases included 47 males and 11 females, showing a marked predilection for males. The mean age was 46.8 ± 7.7 years, with 78% of the patients in their 40s or 50s. Hypertension was the most frequently encountered his...