Interventional neuroradiological techniques for the treatment of aneurysms of the supra-aortic extracranial arteries

Aneurysms in the supra-aortic extracranial arteries are rare in neurovascular pathology. Conventional surgery is effective but technically demanding and successful endovascular repair is reported. We treated 5 patients with supra-aortic extracranial artery aneurysms at our hospital (mean age 53.8 years). There were 2 aneurysms of the common carotid artery, 1 of the extracranial internal carotid artery, 1 of the subclavian artery, and 1 located at the innominate artery. Four patients were symptomatic. The lesion was the result of trauma in 3 patients. The procedure was conducted using bare stent placement and coil embolization of the aneurysm in 2 patients, covered stent in 2 patients, and bare stent only in 1 patient. No periprocedural complications occurred. Follow-up angiography revealed asymptomatic stent thrombosis in a patient treated using a covered stent, but the remaining 4 patients showed successful treatment of the aneurysms with the parent arteries remaining patent. Follow-up clinical assessment ranged between 30 and 81 months. The patient with stent thrombosis died of unrelated pathology; the remaining patients did not experience aneurysm recurrence, hemorrhage, or distal thromboembolism.