[Vertebrobasilar territory embolisms due to the ununited fracture of the right clavicle from 35 years ago].

A 61-year-old man, with a history of right clavicular fracture 35 years prior, visited our hospital due to the sudden onset of vertigo and tinnitus following weakness and numbness in his left arm and leg. He also had a 6-month history of right arm pain with overuse. Brain MRI showed acute brain infarcts in the right posterior cerebral artery territory. Intravenous alteplase was administered 188 minutes after onset. Although heparin infusion was commenced on day 2, he had vertigo again on day 9, and MRI showed a recurrent brain infarct in the right posterior inferior cerebellar artery territory. Ultrasound examination revealed occlusion of his right subclavian artery beneath the old right clavicular fracture as well as mobile thrombus in the proximal portion of the right subclavian artery. We speculated that a pseudarthrosis at the site of the old right clavicular fracture had repetitively pressed the right subclavian artery. Subsequently, we considered thrombi, which had developed in the proximal portion of the right subclavian artery, migrated into the right vertebral artery, causing recurrent emboli in the vertebrobasilar artery territory.