Traumatic Intracranial Aneurysms: Report of Six Cases

ABSTRACT

Six cases of traumatic intracranial aneurysms are presented, two located on the internal carotid artery, two on the anterior cerebral artery, one on the middle cerebral artery, and one on the middle meningeal artery. Three of the 6 cases were associated with skull fracture. Five cases were treated:two by clipping, two by trapping and one by excision & coagulation of the lesion. Due to increasing use of brain CT to substitute angiogram during the initial surveys of head injury patients, traumatic aneurysms are often overlooked and the diagnosis delayed. Since the clinical course of traumatic aneurysm is variable and its high mortality rate, immediate cerebral angiography & early proper treatment are recommended whenever clinical suspicion of traumatic aneurysm is aroused or/and delayed neurological deterioration is detected after head injury. In this study, the authors tried to find out the clues for early diagnosis of traumatic intracranial aneurysms.