Objective       To investigate the correlation between Wallenberg syndrome and unilateral vertebral artery morphological variation using whole brain digital subtraction angiography (DSA).        Methods       Thirty-seven patients with Wallenberg syndrome were assigned to an observation group

and 452 cases of acute cerebral infarction patients without Wallenberg syndrome to a control group. All patients had DSA examination and their unilateral vertebral artery dominance (VAD) and vertebral artery hypoplasia (VAH) distribution differen

ce was analyzed

as well as the correlation between the vascular variation and Wallenberg syndrome and the odds ratio (OR).        Results       The observation group had 19 cases with VAD (including 4 cases of right dysplasia and 2 cases of left dysplasia). The control group had 139 cases with VAD (including 16 cases of right dysplasia and 5 cases of left dysplasia). VAD and VAH in the observation group were both higher than those in the control group (χ

2

=6.635

P=0.010; χ

2

=6.699

P=0.010

respectively)

showing statistically significant difference (P0.05).        Conclusion       VAD and VAH show significant correlation with Wallenberg syndrome

and may be important in the pathogenesis.