Stroke following rottweiler attack

A previously healthy 50-year-old man suffered a major right cerebral infarction shortly after receiving head and neck bites in an attack by two rottweilers. Arteriography revealed occlusion of the right middle cerebral artery, an intimal flap and pseudoaneurysm in the high right internal carotid artery just proximal to the skull base, and an obstructed right vertebral artery. The powerful jaw mechanism of rottweilers and other large mastiff-type dogs makes their bites particularly destructive. The predilection of these animals for attacking the head and upper body makes occult crush injury to the extracranial cerebral vessels an important diagnostic consideration following such attacks.