Subclavian artery stenosis causing transient bilateral brachial diplegia: an unusual cause of anterior spinal artery syndrome.

The author report a case of a 74-year-old man who had presented with transient bilateral brachial diplegia. Investigations led to the diagnosis and treatment of subclavian artery stenosis. There are no known published cases of subclavian artery stenosis associated with transient bilateral arm weakness, and the authors believe that a steal phenomenon leading to vertebrobasilar artery insufficiency and subsequent anterior spinal artery insufficiency may have caused these symptoms, which resolved after correction of the patient's stenosis.