Respective roles of arterial dysplasia, chronic ergotism and other factorsin the occurrence of multiple spontaneous arterial dissections. A case report.

Introduction. - Spontaneous dissection of cervical and visceral arteries ar e rare and usually associated with an underlying arterial disease. Exegesis, - The authors report the unusual case of a 50-year-old woman with high blood pressure who presented spontaneous dissection of cervico-cephal ic, renal and hepatic arteries and of the descending aorta. She had been ta king ergotamine tartrate for ten years for migraine. She also suffered from Raynaud's syndrome worsened by treatment. Conclusion. - The respective roles of arterial dysplasia, chronic ergotism, renovascular hypertension and migraine are discussed. (C) 2000 Editions sc ientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.