In population-based studies, the peak age of presentation is approximately 45 years with a slight gender predisposition towards males (53-57%).Cervical arteries, as mentioned above, consist of two pairs of arteries: vertebral and carotid. As such, cervical artery dissection can be further categorized based on the involvement of artery: carotid vs. vertebral, and the location of the dissection: intracranial vs. extracranial. Causes
The two main causes of cervical artery dissection can be broadly categorized as either spontaneous or traumatic. Arterial walls are composed of three layers: an intima (the innermost layer), media (the middle muscular layer), and adventitia (the outermost layer). A tear in one of the layers of the arterial walls can result in blood collecting within a pocket between the layers of the artery, which can result in an intramural hematoma and/or aneursymal dilation. At the moment, there is no definitive location for the dissection, with some believing dissection initially occurs within the connective tissue and vasa vasorum of the media while others believe dissection begins with an intimal tear. Spontaneous
Spontaneous cervical artery dissections are dissections that occur without any trauma to the neck. More specifically, this can include potential causes such as hereditary connective tissue diseases, family history of strokes, infections and other miscellaneous causes such as smoking, hypertension, migraines and contraceptive use.
Anticoagulation such as heparin, intravenously (IV) or injectable (shot) can be given while inpatient and followed by heparin. A recent trial in 2015,  the Cervical Artery Dissection in Stroke Study (CADISS), examined the efficacy of antiplatelet and anticoagulation treatment with the primary endpoint of ipsilateral stroke or death in individuals with symptomatic dissections. The CADISS trial revealed no significant difference in efficacy of antiplatelet and anticoagulant drugs in preventing strokes or death, but did note that strokes were rare in either group, and rarer than what has been reported in observational studies. == References ==