title: Etiology and Treatment Modalities of Occipital Artery Aneurysms.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Aneurysms of the external carotid artery represent approximately 2% of cervical carotid aneurysms, with the majority being traumatic pseudoaneurysms. Given the paucity of literature available for guidance, the diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of such lesions are completely individualized.
  
  
  METHODS
  We report an 83-year-old woman with an 8-week history of headache in the occipital region, transient episode of gait disturbance, and pulsatile tinnitus on the right. She had no history of trauma, surgery, autoimmune disease, or infection. Physical examination revealed a pulsatile mass tender to palpation in the right occipital scalp. The mass was surgically excised, and histopathological diagnosis of a true aneurysm was made. Postoperatively, the patient's symptoms resolved; however, 1 month after the procedure, she developed occipital neuralgia, which was successfully treated with a percutaneous nerve block.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To the best of our knowledge, this is the second reported case of a true aneurysm of the occipital artery in a patient with no history of trauma. The clinical examination, diagnosis, and treatment are discussed and the literature is reviewed for previously reported cases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Nauman S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Chaudhry
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Advocate Health Care, Oak Lawn, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Brandon G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Gaynor
authors.affiliation: University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Shahrose
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hussain
authors.affiliation: Collier Neurologic Specialists, LLC, Naples, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Paul D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Dernbach
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham & Women's Hospital, Harvard School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: sultan@partners.org.
authors.forename: Mohammad A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Aziz-Sultan
mesh_terms: D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017541:Aneurysm, False / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery; D015901:Angiography, Digital Subtraction; D002340:Carotid Artery Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D002342:Carotid Artery, External / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D002532:Intracranial Aneurysm / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D064847:Multimodal Imaging; D009407:Nerve Block / Q000379:methods; D009437:Neuralgia / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery; D009778:Occipital Lobe / Q000098:blood supply; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014463:Ultrasonography
keywords: External carotid aneurysm; Occipital artery; Pseudoaneurysm; True aneurysm