title: Growth of small saccular aneurysms to giant aneurysms: presentation of three cases.
abstract: We report on three patients with a documented small saccular aneurysm growing to a giant size over several years. In the first patient, a small dilation of the left carotid bifurcation grew to an asymptomatic giant aneurysm of 2 cm in diameter over 11 years. In the second patient, a ruptured aneurysm of the proximal middle cerebral artery (MCA) was erroneously treated by partial ligature of the MCA. Twenty-three years later, the aneurysm had grown to a giant polylobed calcified mass compressing the neighboring brain. In the third patient, a ruptured aneurysm of the dorsal part of the carotid syphon grew over 17 years to a giant calcified mass of 5 cm in diameter despite Hunterian ligation of the common carotid artery in the neck. The three reported cases illustrate the continuous growth and the long-term risks of not treating or of insufficiently treating aneurysms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barth
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: de Tribolet
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D002532:Intracranial Aneurysm / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed