Basilar artery giant fusiform aneurysms caused by congenital defect of the internal elastic lamina and media.
Giant fusiform aneurysms of the basilar artery were found in a 6-year-old boy who subsequently died after rupture of the aneurysm, and in a 64-year-old man who showed signs of ischemia and compression of the brain stem. Autopsy disclosed strikingly similar abnormalities of the wall of the basilar artery, consisting of a defect of the internal elastic lamina and absence of the media. A congenital anomaly may play a role in the pathogenesis of this abnormality, in both young and some elderly patients.
van Donselaar
C A
CA
Department of Neurology, University Hospital Dijkzigt, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Stefanko
S Z
SZ
van der Kwast
T H
TH
Arts
W F
WF
Koudstaal
P J
PJ
D001488:Basilar Artery / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D002532:Intracranial Aneurysm / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011859:Radiography