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Anterior and posterior inferior cerebellar artery infarction with sudden deafness and vertigo.

Murakami T, Nakayasu H, Doi M, Fukada Y, Hayashi M, Suzuki T, Takeuchi Y, Nakashima K

Department of Neurology, Tottori Prefectural Central Hospital, Tottori, Japan; Department of Neurology, Institute of Neurological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Tottori University, Nishimachi 36-1, Yonago 683-8504, Japan.

We report a patient with anterior and posterior inferior cerebellar artery infarction, which manifested as profound deafness, transient vertigo, and minimal cerebellar signs. We suspect that ischaemia of the left internal auditory artery, which originates from the anterior inferior cerebellar artery, caused the deafness and transient vertigo. A small lesion in the middle cerebellar peduncle in the anterior inferior cerebellar artery territory and no lesion in the dentate nucleus in the posterior inferior cerebellar artery territory are thought to explain the minimal cerebellar signs despite the relatively large size of the infarction. Thus a relatively large infarction of the vertebral-basilar territory can manifest as sudden deafness with vertigo. Neuroimaging, including magnetic resonance imaging, is strongly recommended for patients with sudden deafness and vertigo to exclude infarction of the vertebral-basilar artery territory.

Published 20 November 2006 in J Clin Neurosci, 13(10): 1051-4.
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