Spasm induced by protection balloon during carotid artery stenting.

PURPOSE: The PercuSurge system is a distal balloon embolic protection device used for carotid artery stenting (CAS). We performed a retrospective study on the prognosis and clinical effects of spasms induced by the PercuSurge GuardWire system (PercuSurge-induced spasm). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed CAS in 118 carotid stenoses using the PercuSurge system. Of the 118 procedures, 31 (26.3%) of the patients experienced PercuSurge-induced spasm, and all underwent postoperative follow-up studies by cerebral angiography and antiplatelet treatment. RESULTS: On follow-up angiograms obtained a mean of 5.2 months (range 3-10 months) after CAS, all 31 PercuSurge-induced spasms had disappeared, and no delayed stenosis was found at the sites where the spasms had occurred. No ischemic events due to the spasms occurred during a mean follow-up of 13 months (range 3-32 months). CONCLUSION: In the hands of physicians experienced in endovascular surgery, CAS using the PercuSurge system is a safe method with which to treat patients with carotid stenosis. Our study demonstrated that PercuSurge-induced spasms had no morphological or clinical adverse effects.

Cerebral protection during retrograde carotid artery stenting for proximal carotid artery stenosis: technical note.

Carotid artery stenting for carotid bifurcation stenosis usually uses the transfemoral approach. However, in patients with proximal common carotid artery (CCA) stenosis, the guiding catheter is difficult to introduce into the narrow origin of the CCA without risking cerebral embolization before activation of the protection device. A technique of cerebral protection by internal carotid artery (ICA) clamping with or without simultaneous external carotid artery (ECA) clamping was used to treat patients with proximal CCA stenosis by the retrograde direct carotid approach. The carotid bifurcation was surgically exposed and retrograde catheterization was performed to approach the stenosis. The ICA was clamped during angioplasty and stenting to avoid cerebral embolization. The ECA was clamped simultaneously if any extracranial-intracranial anastomosis was present. None of five patients treated with this technique experienced ischemic complications attributable to this technique.

Hyperform remodeling balloon for the balloon occlusion test of persistent primitive trigeminal artery aneurysm - case report.

A 17-year-old woman presented with a rare aneurysm at the junction of the persistent primitive trigeminal artery (PPTA) and the internal carotid artery (ICA) manifesting as left abducens nerve paresis. The aneurysm and the ICA were both successfully occluded with coils. The balloon occlusion test used the HyperForm balloon microcatheter to seal the PPTA and ICA, which is very important to determine the optimal treatment strategy for a PPTA aneurysm.

[A case of subarachnoid hemorrhage associated with spontaneous intracranial hypotension].

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leakage has recently been documented in most patients, as the main cause of spontaneous intracranial hypotension (SIH). No cases of SIH accompanying an episode of subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) has yet been reported and, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a patient, who developed SAH during his clinical course of SIH. SAH was cured completely by surgical intervention. A 57-year-old man, with a history of a sustained postural headache, suffered the sudden onset of severe nuchal pain. SAH in the basal cistern, together with the finding of bilateral subdural fluid retention were verified by CT. Angiogram showed no vascular abnormalities of cerebral or cervical vessels. Gd-enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) disclosed diffuse meningeal enhancement. RI cisternogram and CT-myelogram (CTM) suggested that the region of CSF leakage should be in the retrospinal area at the level of C1-2. Because orthostatic headache failed to resolve even with 3 weeks of bed rest, surgical intervention was successfully carried out to seal the site of CSF leakage with the use of a fascia and fibrin glue. We have speculated that the etiology of SAH might have been a secondary rupture of congestive intracranial veins, such as basilar plexus or bridging veins, induced by a decrease of intracranial CSF pressure.

Subarachnoid hemorrhage caused by dural arteriovenous fistula of the sphenobasal sinus--case report.

A 59-year-old woman presented with a rare middle fossa dural arteriovenous fistula (AVF) unrelated to the cavernous sinus manifesting only as subarachnoid hemorrhage. Angiography revealed shunts between the meningeal branches of both the internal and external carotid arteries and the sphenobasal sinus. The AVF drained into the superficial middle cerebral vein (SMCV) which had a varix and an anastomosis to a superior cerebral vein. The arterial supply vessels were eliminated surgically and the sinus was excised. Bleeding did not recur and there was no venous infarction. Dural AVF of the sphenoparietal sinus is associated with pulsatile exophthalmos and dural AVF of the sphenopetrosal sinus with tinnitus, but dural AVF of the sphenobasal sinus has no obvious symptom. Simple interruption of the SMCV at the penetration of the arachnoid membrane was possible because of the absence of a draining vessel to preserve AVF patency, but the arteries were eliminated in this patient to prevent formation of another AVF.

[Dissecting aneurysm of the middle cerebral artery with subarachnoid hemorrhage showing complete occlusion at the M2 portion of the middle cerebral artery on preoperative angiograms: case report].

We present a surgical case of a dissecting aneurysm of the middle cerebral artery associated with subarachnoid hemorrhage and intracranial hemorrhage. A 29-year-old man suddenly fell into a comatose state, and was referred to our hospital. CT scan showed diffuse subarachnoid hemorrhage and an intracerebral hematoma with marked midline shift located in the right frontal lobe. The right carotid angiogram revealed complete occlusion at the M2 portion of the middle cerebral artery, but failed to reveal any aneurysms in the rest of the intracranial circulation. We undertook emergent surgery to evacuate the hematoma and to confirm whether it was a dissecting aneurysm or not. After evacuation of the hematoma of the right frontal lobe, the Sylvian fissure was noticed to be widely opened. We detected a large dissecting aneurysm with a dark-purplish wall arising from the right M2 trunk, and we trapped the aneurysm. The postoperative course was uneventful and the patient gradually improved and was discharged without neurological deficits. We presented this case with a review of the literature.