Intracranial arterial aneurysms in children. Clinical, neuroradiological and histological findings.

Of our five cases of intracranial arterial aneurysms in children, there were two typical saccular aneurysms and three with fusiform or large peripheral vascular anomalies. Angiographic and histological examinations pointed to an additional arteriovenous malformation in the area of the aneurysm in two cases, combined in a third case with a cutaneous hemangioma of the brow. Other characteristics were typical of aneurysms in children such as low frequency, male preponderance, and location at the internal carotid artery bifurcation. Large peripheral aneurysms are not unusual in childhood. However, neuroradiological and neuropathological criteria reveal that such 'aneurysms' are often part of a complex arteriovenous malformation as has been presumed by some authors.