Extracranial-intracranial arterial bypass after cerebral foreign body embolization: effective treatment of transient ischemic attacks.

A case of traumatic foreign body embolism into the right intracranial carotid artery with stenosis of the right middle cerebral artery in a 9-year-old boy is presented. Initial hemiparesis and a consecutive asymptomatic interval of 12 months were followed by a period of frequent transient ischemic attacks. After an extracranial-intracranial arterial bypass had been performed 18 months later, symptoms ceased without relapse. A thorough review of the literature demonstrates the rare incidence of this entity.