Résumé : The authors describe the case of an elderly woman exhibiting the clinical signs of occlusion of the anterior spinal artery at the cervical level. Pathologic findings indicate that the material occluding not only this vessel but also the satellite veins is fibrocartilage. The authors review the literature concerning this unusual situation and discuss the mechanism by which the fibrocartilaginous emboli, in their case, are both arterial and venous. Large arteriovenous shunts within and around the spinal cord are likely to explain such a disturbing pathologic finding.