Treatment and results of partially thrombosed giant aneurysms

Partially thrombosed giant aneurysms are one of the most difficult diseases in the neurosurgical field. We have had 18 of these cases namely, three in vertebral artery, four in basilar artery, four in internal carotid artery, five in middle cerebral artery, and two in anterior communicating artery. Nine aneurysms were clipped, two aneurysms were removed with anastomosis, two cases were treated interventionally, and five cases were treated conservatively because of serpentine and fusiform types of aneurysms in internal carotid artery bifurcation. These conservatively treated patients died due to infarction. When surgery is selected in the thrombosed giant aneurysms, the approach is the most important to secure the neck. Three- dimensional computed tomography angiography was useful to plan the strategy for surgery. If the neck is big enough for placement of a clip, arterial reconstruction is the choice. The reconstruction must be done including an adequate size of the artery because of the thick wall. If the aneurysm neck is too small to reconstruct, aneurysmectomy with anastomosis is one of the choices.