Background: Aneurysms of the subclavian artery are rare in childhood and may be due to traumatic, infectious or congenital causes.
Case report: A 15 year-old boy presented with a sudden left visual disturbance plus decreased muscle strength and paresthesias of the left arm; these manifestations disappeared within 15 minutes. His neurological examination on admission was normal. The right arm radial pulse was weak and the blood pressures of the right and left arms were significantly different. Doppler showed a right subclavian artery aneurysm containing several clots, that was confirmed by angiography. There were no signs of inflammation or indication of autoimmune disease. This aneurysm might have been caused by trauma as the patient had had a violent cervical traumatism after a diving accident 2 years earlier. The aneurysm was surgically removed and the right vertebral artery arising from it was reimplanted. Histological examination of the aneurysm gave no evidence of etiology. The post-surgical MRI showed no brain abnormaly.
Conclusions: This aneurysm is probably of post-traumatic origin. The cerebral disturbance could be due to embolism or transient ischemia; the latter is more compatible with the normal NMR.