Cervical rib with stroke as the initial presentation

Abstract

Cervical ribs rarely become symptomatic. Cerebral ischemia or infarct due to cervical rib is extremely rare and, invariably, these patients have a history of upper limb symptoms before presenting with stroke. We report a young boy with cervical rib who presented with stroke. A right sided cervical rib was noted during angiogram, causing mild stenosis and post stenotic dilatation of right subclavian artery distal to the rib. An abduction angiogram showed complete occlusion of the right subclavian artery and visualization of collaterals. Right carotid angiogram also showed evidence of thromboembolic episodes in the right middle cerebral artery territory.