Surgical management of recurrent intracranial aneurysms after embolization

Background Endovascular therapy is the first treatment choice for intracranial aneurysms currently, but it has a high recurrence rate. Some patients require surgical clipping because of the difficulty of re-embolization. This study retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 11 cases who underwent clipping operation because of the recurrence after endovascular therapy. Combining with domestic and foreign related literatures, this paper discusses the principles and techniques of surgical treatment for recurrent aneurysms. Methods There were a total of 11 patients with 12 recurrent aneurysms after embolization, including 3 anterior communicating artery (ACoA) aneurysms, 3 middle cerebral artery (MCA) aneurysms, 2 posterior communicating artery (PCoA) aneurysms, one anterior cerebral artery (ACA) aneurysm, one vertebral artery (VA) aneurysm, one basilar tip aneurysm and one superior cerebellar artery (SCA) aneurysm. There were 7 small aneurysms and 4 large aneurysms. All patients underwent surgical clipping under microscope. After operation, 11 aneurysms were complete clipped, and one was proximally blocked. The coils were reserved in 7 aneurysms, and were removed or partially removed in 5 aneurysms. Results All patients were followed up for an average of 22 months after surgery. There were 9 cases (9/11) with the Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) score improved or remaining unchanged compared with preoperation. One of them presented left limb weakness after operation, with the muscle strength Grade 3, while recovered to Grade 4-5 on discharge. The other 2 patients died after surgery. One case had a critical condition before surgery, and the other was secondary to thrombosis and pneumonia. Both of them had a GOS score of 2 when discharged, and died after discharge. Conclusions There is high surgical difficulty in recurrent aneurysms, however, with adequate preoperative evaluation and surgical design, it can still promise safe and effective results. DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1672-6731.2015.03.010