Value of noninvasive imaging in follow-up of intracranial aneurysm.
Follow-up is necessary for treated and untreated aneurysms. The purpose of this study is to assess the results of treated aneurysms, the development of untreated aneurysms and the incidence of new aneurysms through short-term follow-up with noninvasive imaging, including CTA and MRA. More-than-once follow-up imaging with either CTA or MRA was performed in 73 patients, 65 of them suffering SAH. CTA was performed in 46 patients with clipped aneurysms, 9 patients with coiled aneurysms and 8 cases with untreated aneurysms. MRA was performed in ten patients with coiled aneurysms. CTA follow-up demonstrated that in 48 clipped aneurysms, 47 aneurysms completely disappeared; one aneurysm with neck remnant and one new aneurysm was found. No recurrence was found after microsurgical clipping. CTA follow-up provided limited information for ten coiled aneurysms because of poor quality images due to artifacts from coil. MRA follow-up of 12 coiled aneurysms showed there were no recanalization, recurrence or new aneurysm. In 20 untreated aneurysms, 19 stayed unchanged, and one aneurysm automatically disappeared. The newest generation of CTA and MRA can be used for following-up of intracranial aneurysms, and is more readily accepted by Chinese patients because of convenience, non-invasiveness and low price.
Department of Neurosurgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, P.R. China.
Li
L
Jiang
Zhao-Hui
ZH
He
Xiao-Dong
XD
Zhang
Bin
B
Lin
Xiao-Hong
XH
Yin
Xiao-Chuan
XC
Sun
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015901:Angiography, Digital Subtraction / Q000379:methods; D002533:Cerebral Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D004621:Embolization, Therapeutic / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D002532:Intracranial Aneurysm / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult