Hypoplastic Ipsilateral Internal Carotid Artery as a Cause of Acute Ischaemic Stroke: A Case Report

Ischaemic stroke caused by carotid artery disease is generally attributed to atherosclerotic disease of the carotid bifurcation. Non-atherosclerotic disease of the carotid arteries causing ischaemic stroke, though documented, is rather rare. Less frequently, carotid artery dissection, fibro-muscular dysplasia and post-traumatic thrombosis have been described as a cause of stroke. Developmental abnormalities of the intra-cranial carotid or vertebral arteries can result in an incomplete formation of the circle of Willis. However, such developmental abnormalities affecting the extra-cranial carotid arteries is extremely rare and have largely been identified only as an autopsy finding among individuals who remained free of cerebral symptoms throughout their lifetime. Nevertheless, the identification of such maldeveloped extra-cranial carotid arteries in patients with ischaemic stroke offers the clinicians a total new dimension in to cerebral perfusion and stroke aetiology.