Spontaneous Regression of Aneurysm Remnant after Incomplete Surgical Clipping in a Patient with Ruptured Cerebral Aneurysm

Cases of spontaneous regression of cerebral aneurysm remnant after incomplete surgical clipping have been rarely reported. This paper reports the regression of an aneurysm remnant after incomplete surgical clipping during postsurgical follow-up. A 50-year-old male presented with subarachnoid hemorrhage because of rupture of an anterior communicating artery aneurysm. An emergency clipping of the aneurysm was performed. A cerebral angiography, which was performed two weeks postoperatively, revealed an aneurysm remnant. The patient refused additional treatment and was discharged without apparent neurological deficit. One-year follow up cerebral angiography demonstrated a partially regressed aneurysm remnant.

Role of Multislice Computerized Tomographic Angiography after Clip Placement in Aneurysm Patients Based on Comparison with Three Dimensional Digital Subtraction Angiography

OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the accuracy of multislice computerized tomographic angiography (MCTA) in the postoperative evaluation of clipped aneurysms by comparising it with three dimensional digital subtraction angiography (3D-DSA). METHODS: Between May 2004 and September 2006, we included patients with ruptured cerebral aneurysm of the anterior circulation that was surgically clipped and evaluated by both postoperative MCTA and postoperative 3D-DSA. We measured the diagnostic performance and calculated the sensitivity and specificity of postoperative MCTA compared to 3D-DSA in the detection of aneurysm remnants. RESULTS: A total of 11 neck remnants among the 92 clipped aneurysms (11.9%) were confirmed by 3D-DSA. According to Sindou's classification of aneurysm remnants, 8.7% of clipped aneurysms (8/92) had only neck remnant on 3D-DSA and 3.2% (3/92 aneurysms) had residuum of the neck and sac on 3D-DSA. There were 12 (13.04%) equivocal cases that were difficult to interpret based on the postoperative MCTA. The reasons for the equivocal cases included multiple clips (6 cases, 50.0%), beam-hardening effect (4 cases, 33.3%), motion artifact (1 case, 8.3%), fenestrated clip (1 case, 8.3%) and other combined causes. The sensitivity and specificity of the postoperative MCTA was 81.8% and 88.9%, respectively, by ROC curve (p=0.000). CONCLUSION: MCTA is an accurate noninvasive imaging method used for the assessment of clipped aneurysms in the anterior circulation. If the image quality of postoperative MCTA is good quality and the patient has been treated with a single titanium clip, except a fenestrated clip, the absence of an aneurysm remnant can be diagnosed by MCTA alone and the need for postoperative DSA can be reduced in a large percentage of cases.

Role of Three-dimensional Computed Tomography Angiography in the Follow-up of Patients with Aneurysm Clips

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to assess the usefulness of three-dimensional computed tomography angiography (3D-CTA) as a postoperative follow-up examination after intracranial aneurysms have been clipped. METHODS: Between January 2002 and June 2005, 522 consecutive patients received treatment for intracranial aneurysms. A retrospective analysis of 310 patients with postoperative 3D-CTAs was performed to evaluate aneurysmal remnants and de novo aneurysms. This study was conducted in 271 patients with at least immediate and 6-month routine 3D-CTAs for postoperative clipped aneurysm and 39 patients with 3D-CTAs for clipped aneurysm before 2002 when there was no 3D-CTA in our hospital. RESULTS: Eight patients had abnormal CT angiographic findings. Aneurysm remnants were revealed in 4 patients and de novo aneurysms were discovered in 5 patients. Two patients were found at the postoperative 6-month 3D-CTA performed routinely. In 1 patient, the aneurysm was demonstrated on the way to the examination of syncope. In 2 patients, the author recommended 3D-CTA although there was no symptom because the patients had visited our institute long time ago (5.1, 4.5 years). Of the 8 patients, 2 remnants and 1 de novo aneurysm were treated by endovascular treatment. Three de novo aneurysms at the middle cerebral artery and 1 pericallosal artery aneurysm were treated by direct clipping because these aneurysms were not suitable for the endovascular treatment in point of anatomical configuration. One patient with both remnant and de novo aneurysm was treated conservatively. CONCLUSION: 3D-CTA is an available, non-invasive diagnostic tool for the postoperative follow-up examination of aneurysmal state in patients after clipping.