Clinico-radiological spectrum of giant supraclinoid internal carotid artery aneurysms. Observations in 93 cases.

A review of a series of 312 giant intracranial aneurysms treated at University Hospital in London, Ontario, showed that 93 of those aneurysms were located between the intracavernous portion and the bifurcation of the internal carotid artery. Sixty-five of those aneurysms were carotid ophthalmic, 12 were located in the internal carotid-posterior communicating-anterior choroidal artery regions and 16 involved the internal carotid artery bifurcation. For the majority, clinical presentation was related to the mass of the aneurysms and compression of surrounding structures such as visual pathways, ocular motor cranial nerves, the fifth nerve, and hypothalamic-pituitary axis. Fourteen patients presented with subarachnoid hemorrhage. Cerebral angiography, computed tomography and xenon inhalation studies of cerebral blood flow were the tools used to study the morphology of the aneurysm and dynamics of the circle of Willis.