STROKE FROM INTERNAL CAROTID-ARTERY OCCLUSION DURING MUMPS INFECTION

During the terminal incubation period of severe mumps infection, a 40- year-old patient suffered from large infarction in the right middle ce rebral artery territory. The proximal right internal carotid artery (I CA) was occluded on angiography. Computed tomography of the neck detec ted a hemorrhage located ventromedial to the right common carotid arte ry. Four months later the right ICA was partly recanalized. Carotid su rgery revealed an atherosclerotic plaque and a vessel wall, which was fragile and less compact than usually. A strong inflammatory reaction to mumps infection may have contributed to the pathogenesis of the cer vical hemorrhage and to acute thrombosis and occlusion of the ICA. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.