Carotid Dissection and Viral Illness

We read the recent description associating carotid dissection with recent viral illness by Constantinescu¹ but believe the anecdotal observation is just that, and adds an extra layer of etiology that is unnecessary. Both patients had minor trauma at the time of their dissections, and this in itself is all that is necessary to trigger dissection, particularly in patients with underlying arterial pathologic conditions such as fibromuscular dysplasia.