Dissections after childbirth.

The occurrence of spontaneous internal carotid or vertebral artery dissection after childbirth remains rare. To our knowledge, seven cases of arterial dissection in the postpartum period have been described in the literature as single case reports. We report four additional cases of internal carotid and vertebral artery dissection in the puerperal period, documented by angiography. Physicians should consider the possibility of arterial dissection in any young patient presenting with acute ischemic stroke, including women in the postpartum period. The availability of modern noninvasive ultrasound and imaging techniques may result in earlier diagnosis and facilitate identification of this condition.