Comparison of the efficacy of surgical clipping and embolization for oculomotor nerve palsy due to a posterior communicating artery aneurysm.

OBJECTIVE: To aim at the efficacies of surgical clipping and endovascular embolization for oculomotor nerve palsy (ONP) as treatments for posterior communicating artery aneurysm (PcoAA), and the comparison and various influencing factors of the treatments. PATIENTS AND METHODS: An analysis of the clinical data of 52 enrolled PcoAA patients with ONP who had treatment in the Department of Neurosurgery in Anhui Provincial Hospital from January 2011 to June 2015 was conducted. There were 23 patients among a total underwent surgical clippings and others 29 patients received endovascular embolization treatment. Then, the age, gender, aneurysm size and rupture status, onset duration, preoperative ONP severity and postoperative recovery degree of ONP of patients in the two groups were compared. RESULTS: The final ONP outcomes of the 52 PcoAA patients consisted of 27 full recovery patients (51.9%), 21 partial recovery patients (40.4%), and 4 no recovery patients (7.7%). (1) Within the 23 patients in the surgical clipping group, subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) occurred in 16 patients, and no SAH occurrence in the other 7 patients; the final ONP evaluation showed 18 patients fully recovered (78.3%) and 5 patients partially recovered (21.7%). Within the 29 patients in the endovascular embolization group, SAH occurred in 18 patients, and no SAH occurrence in the other 11 patients; the final ONP evaluation showed 9 patients fully recovered (31%), 16 patients partially recovered in 16 patients (55.2%) and 4 no recovery patients (13.8%). (2) The postoperative ONP recovery was analyzed with multivariate logistic regression, and the treatment method was an independent factor for ONP recovery (OR = 0.041, 95% CI: 0.007-0.261, p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: When compared with the endovascular embolization, the surgical clipping showed a better efficacy in the recovery from PcoAA related ONP.