Endovascular management of dissecting vertebrobasilar artery aneurysms in patients presenting with acute subarachnoid hemorrhage.
OBJECTIVE
The authors report on a series of 29 patients presenting with acute subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) related to the rupture of a vertebrobasilar dissecting aneurysm. Special attention was focused on embolization techniques and immediate and midterm anatomical and clinical outcomes.


METHODS
Between March 1994 and January 2003, 29 patients presented with acute SAH caused by the rupture of a vertebrobasilar dissecting aneurysm. Eleven patients (37.9%) had Hunt and Hess Grade I SAH, four (13.8%) Grade II, six (20.7%) Grade III, five (17.2%) Grade IV, and three (10.3%) Grade V. Aneurysms were classified into five groups based on lesion location, and treatment courses were decided. All patients except two were treated by endovascular trapping of the aneurysm with concomitant occlusion of the involved vertebral artery (VA). No technical or clinical complication was observed in 28 patients (97%). Aneurysm perforation occurred during the procedure in one patient (3%). There was evidence of aneurysm recanalization in one patient. One patient with Hunt and Hess Grade IV SAH and two patients with Grade V SAH died. One patient died of respiratory infection 1 year after aneurysm trapping. One patient presented with a recurrent hemorrhage 1 month after treatment and died. Overall morbidity and mortality rates were 13.8 and 17.2%, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Twenty-nine patients with acute SAH due to rupturing of vertebrobasilar dissecting aneurysms were treated using endovascular techniques. In most cases, endovascular trapping of the aneurysm and concomitant occlusion of the VA was technically and clinically successful.
Yuki
Ichiro
I
Division of Interventional Neuroradiology, Department of Radiological Sciences, UCLA Medical Center and David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California 90095-1721, USA. iyuki@mednet.ucla.edu
Murayama
Yuichi
Y
Viñuela
Fernando
F
D017542:Aneurysm, Ruptured / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D001488:Basilar Artery / Q000473:pathology; D004621:Embolization, Therapeutic / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D002532:Intracranial Aneurysm / Q000150:complications* / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013345:Subarachnoid Hemorrhage / Q000209:etiology; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014711:Vertebral Artery / Q000473:pathology