Microsurgical treatment strategy for large and giant aneurysms of the internal carotid artery

Abstract

ObjectiveWe aimed to summarize our microsurgical treatment results for large (10–25 mm) and giant (≥25 mm) intradural internal carotid artery (ICA) aneurysms over a 7-year period at a single institution and to describe our detailed strategy. Patients and methodsWe reviewed the records of 68 patients with 69 aneurysms, including large and giant intradural ICA aneurysms, treated using microsurgical techniques from January 2008 to December 2014. We used adenosine-induced cardiac standstill or retrograde suction decompression for some aneurysm clipping cases and performed bypass surgery if needed. ResultsFifty-eight large and giant ICA aneurysms (84%) were treated with direct clipping, including 6 aneurysms (9%) clipped using adenosine-induced cardiac standstill and 10 aneurysms (14%) clipped using suction decompression. Eleven unclippable aneurysms (16%) were trapped with extracranial-intracranial bypass. Good or excellent results (modified Rankin Scale scores 0–2) were obtained in 47 patients with unruptured aneurysms (92%) and in 14 patients with ruptured aneurysms (82%) at the 6-month follow-up. Of 17 patients with visual disturbances before treatment, 11 (65%) had improved vision after surgical treatment. A remnant sac was found in 20 cases (29%) on digital subtraction angiography performed immediately postoperatively. At the median follow-up of 22 months, we encountered 3 recurrent aneurysm cases (5%) among the 58 aneurysms that were followed up. ConclusionOur study demonstrated that microsurgical treatment of large and giant intradural ICA aneurysms remains competitive to flow-diverting treatment, if the surgeon is prepared to perform multifarious surgical methods, including adenosine administration, retrograde suction decompression, and bypass vascular anastomosis.