Published in:
01-08-2018 | Original Article - Vascular
Cranial nerve deficits in giant cavernous carotid aneurysms and their relation to aneurysm morphology and location
Authors:
G. Durner, M. Piano, P. Lenga, D. Mielke, C. Hohaus, S. Guhl, N. Maldaner, J. K. Burkhardt, M. T. Pedro, J. Lehmberg, D. Rufenacht, P. Bijlenga, N. Etminan, J. K. Krauss, E. Boccardi, D. Hänggi, P. Vajkoczy, Julius Dengler, on behalf of the Giant Intracranial Aneurysm Study Group
Published in:
Acta Neurochirurgica
|
Issue 8/2018
Login to get access
Abstract
Background
Giant cavernous carotid aneurysms (GCCAs) usually exert substantial mass effect on adjacent intracavernous cranial nerves. Since predictors of cranial nerve deficits (CNDs) in patients with GCCA are unknown, we designed a study to identify associations between CND and GCCA morphology and the location of mass effect.
Methods
This study was based on data from the prospective clinical and imaging databases of the Giant Intracranial Aneurysm Registry. We used magnetic resonance imaging and digital subtraction angiography to examine GCCA volume, presence of partial thrombosis (PT), GCCA origins, and the location of mass effect. We also documented whether CND was present.
Results
We included 36 GCCA in 34 patients, which had been entered into the registry by eight participating centers between January 2009 and March 2016. The prevalence of CND was 69.4%, with one CND in 41.7% and more than one in 27.5%. The prevalence of PT was 33.3%. The aneurysm origin was most frequently located at the anterior genu (52.8%). The prevalence of CND did not differ between aneurysm origins (p = 0.29). Intracavernous mass effect was lateral in 58.3%, mixed medial/lateral in 27.8%, and purely medial in 13.9%. CND occurred significantly more often in GCCA with lateral (81.0%) or mixed medial/lateral (70.0%) mass effect than in GCCA with medial mass effect (20.0%; p = 0.03). After adjusting our data for the effects of the location of mass effect, we found no association between the prevalence of CND and aneurysm volume (odds ratio (OR) 1.30 (0.98–1.71); p = 0.07), the occurrence of PT (OR 0.64 (0.07–5.73); p = 0.69), or patient age (OR 1.02 (95% CI 0.95–1.09); p = 0.59).
Conclusions
Distinguishing between medial versus lateral location of mass effect may be more helpful than measuring aneurysm volumes or examining aneurysm thrombosis in understanding why some patients with GCCA present with CND while others do not.
Clinical trial registration no.