Paediatric dissecting posterior cerebral aneurysms: report of two cases and review of the literature.
BACKGROUND
Intracranial aneurysms in the paediatric population are uncommon, accounting for 2% to 6% of all aneurysms, and spontaneous arterial dissection is rarely reported as the cause of aneurysms in children, especially in the posterior cerebral artery.


METHODS
Two cases of paediatric spontaneous posterior cerebral artery dissecting aneurysms are reported, one in a 33-month-old male child presenting with aneurysmal rupture and subarachnoid haemorrhage and the other in a 9-year-old boy with an unruptured aneurysm.


RESULTS
The first child was successfully treated by endovascular parent vessel occlusion without neurological deficit and in the second a spontaneous thrombosis of the aneurysm and its parent artery occurred associated with hydrocephalus and a favourable outcome.


CONCLUSIONS
Dissecting aneurysms are dynamic lesions with variable and unpredictable evolution and close follow-up and/or early treatment is warranted. Spontaneous arterial dissection is a rare, probably still under-recognized, cause of intracranial aneurysms that may be responsible for a significant number of aneurysms and spontaneous aneurysmal thromboses in children.
Vilela
Pedro
P
Neuroradiology Department, Garcia de Orta Hospital, Av. Prof. Torrado Silva. Pragal, 2801-591, Almada, Portugal. ferrovilela@hotmail.com
Goulão
Augusto
A
D000784:Aortic Dissection / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D017542:Aneurysm, Ruptured / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D002533:Cerebral Angiography; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004621:Embolization, Therapeutic; D006801:Humans; D006849:Hydrocephalus / Q000209:etiology; D002532:Intracranial Aneurysm / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D020767:Intracranial Thrombosis / Q000209:etiology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D020769:Posterior Cerebral Artery; D013345:Subarachnoid Hemorrhage / Q000209:etiology; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed