The occurrence of spontaneous internal carotid or vertebral artery dissecti
on after childbirth remains rare. To our knowledge, seven cases of arterial
dissection in the postpartum period have been described in the literature
as single case reports. We report four additional cases of internal carotid
and vertebral artery dissection in the puerperal period, documented by ang
iography. Physicians should consider the possibility of arterial dissection
in any young patient presenting with acute ischemic stroke, including wome
n in the postpartum period. The availability of modern noninvasive ultrasou
nd and imaging techniques may result in earlier diagnosis and facilitate id
entification of this condition.