Originally thought to be a rare occurrence, BCVI are now diagnosed in approximately 1% of blunt trauma patients. Initially BCVI were thought to have unavoidable devastating neurologic outcomes. But early reports suggested anticoagulation might decrease these events. If untreated, carotid artery injuries (CAI) have a stoke rate up to 50% depending on injury grade, with increasing stroke rates correlating with increasing grades of injury. Current studies report early treatment with antithrombotics - either heparin or anti-platelet agents - in patients with BCVI markedly reduces stroke rates and resultant neurologic morbidity. As reports of bleeding complications have altered heparin protocols in these patients, the use of antiplatelet agents is attractive. Although heparin has been has been proposed as the gold standard treatment due to its initial empiric use, no comparative studies of antithrombotic agents has been performed.