Aneurysms of distal posterior inferior cerebellar artery.
OBJECTIVE
Aneurysms are very rarely encountered in the distal posterior inferior cerebellar artery (PICA). The authors experienced 5 cases with a distal PICA aneurysm among 368 cases of intracranial aneurysms during the period from January 2003 to January 2008. Here, the authors describe their clinical and surgical experiences and include a review of the relevant literature.


METHODS
Using radiologic findings and charts, we retrospectively reviewed the surgical results of 5 cases with a distal PICA aneurysm treated from January 2003 to January 2008.


RESULTS
The current five cases were composed of four cases of 'Good' and one case of 'Fair'. No postoperative complications occurred other than a ventriculo-peritoneal shunt due to hydrocephalus in Case 2. In all five cases, treatment was successful without neurological deficit.


CONCLUSIONS
Surgical outcome of PICA aneurysms have been reported to be excellent because the amount of intraparenchymal injury is limited. More clinical experience, microsurgical technique developments, and endovascular surgery advancements are certain to improve treatment outcomes.
Park
Jong-Su
JS
Department of Neurosurgery, School of Medicine, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea.
Lee
Tae-Hoon
TH
Seo
Eui-Kyo
EK
Cho
Yong-Jae
YJ