Stent-assisted coil embolization for anterior cerebral artery dissection presented with cerebral infarction

Fusiform aneurysms of anterior cerebral artery: center experience and systematic literature review

Fusiform aneurysms of the anterior cerebral artery (ACA) are uncommon, and the natural history of this entity is poorly characterized. Along with our center experience, we conducted a systematic literature review to help shed light on the clinical course of ACA fusiform aneurysms. We queried our institutional database to identify cases with fusiform aneurysms of ACA. In addition, following the PRISMA algorithm, we identified all reported cases published in the English literature from the inception of PubMed until December 2022. We categorized clinical presentations into three categories: (i) traumatic/iatrogenic, (ii) spontaneous symptomatic ruptured/unruptured, and (iii) spontaneous asymptomatic aneurysms. We utilized descriptive statistics. We identified seven cases from our center along with 235 patients from published literature. Blunt trauma was responsible for the development of 19 aneurysms. Sixty-three percent of these aneurysms tend to rupture within 2 weeks from the initial trauma, and despite treatment, only 74% of these patients had good clinical outcomes. Spontaneous symptomatic presentation occurred in 207 patients and was often associated with previous/concomitant ACA dissection. Subarachnoid hemorrhage from ruptured aneurysms was the most common presentation. Spontaneous symptomatic fusiform aneurysm is rapidly evolving lesions, and treatment is necessary. Three of our own cases were treated with an endovascular flow diverter (pipeline) stenting with good outcomes. Spontaneous asymptomatic aneurysms were reported in nine patients. These lesions are often associated with other vascular abnormalities. Treatment included surgical clipping with good clinical outcomes. Instead, four patients from our center database were managed conservatively with equally good outcomes. Our study demonstrates good clinical outcomes when fusiform aneurysms of ACA, especially when symptomatic, are treated promptly with either reconstructive or deconstructive therapies.

A Case of Ruptured Anterior Cerebral Artery Dissection Prevented from Re-rupture with Stenting and Modification of Antiplatelet Agents

A case of ruptured anterior cerebral artery (ACA) dissection was treated with multiple neck-bridge stents, with modification of antiplatelet administration according to changes in the shape of the aneurysm in the acute phase. A 67-year-old woman presented with severe subarachnoid hemorrhage and fusiform dilatation was observed in the left ACA between the A1 and A2 segments. The use of stents in the acute phase is associated with high risk of ischemic complications. Prasugrel administration, which is considered to have low drug resistance, may have allowed safe stent use in the acute phase.

Overlapping Stents and Coil Embolization of Ruptured Anterior Cerebral Artery Dissecting Aneurysms in the Acute Phase

Objective

To report a case of ruptured anterior cerebral artery dissection treated with stent-assisted coil embolization with overlapping stents.

Case Presentation

A 51-year-old woman developed subarachnoid hemorrhage the day after transient left hemiparesis. Angiography revealed a ruptured anterior cerebral artery dissecting aneurysm. We conducted stent-assisted coil embolization with the overlapping stent technique on the day after the hemorrhage. She recovered steadily without rebleeding. Six months after embolization, no recurrence was found on angiography.

Conclusion

Although an acceptable result was achieved in this case, the safety and efficacy of this procedure are unconfirmed. A larger number of cases should be accumulated.

Importance of Chronological Changes on High-Resolution Vessel Wall Imaging for Diagnosis of Isolated Anterior Cerebral Artery Dissection

INTRODUCTION

The accurate diagnosis of isolated anterior cerebral artery dissection (iACA-D) is made difficult by the spatial resolution on conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques including time-of-flight magnetic resonance angiography that is too limited to detect minute arterial wall abnormalities. Recent advances in high-resolution vessel wall imaging (HRVWI), which can detect intramural hematomas (IMH), have improved the noninvasive diagnostic accuracy of iACA-D. However, despite the risk of overlooking minute IMH and aneurysmal dilations especially at the early disease stage, the utility of T1-weighted and T2-weighted HRVWI at each disease stage (i.e., acute, early subacute, late subacute and chronic) has not been evaluated thoroughly enough. This prompted us to undertake the present study to determine the diagnostic value of chronological changes of IMHs on T1-weighted HRVWI and arterial dilations on T2-weighted HRVWI to achieve the earliest possible and most accurate diagnosis of iACA-D.

METHODS

In addition to six patients with iACA-D, five previously reported iACA-D patients from three institutions for whom reliable information on HRVWI and its examination date was available were enrolled in this study. IMHs on T1-weighted HRVWI and aneurysmal dilations on T2-weighted HRVWI and their chronological changes were visually evaluated.

RESULTS

Either or both of IMHs on T1-weighted HRVWI and aneurysmal dilations on T2-weighted HRVWI were detected in all our six patients and the five previously reported ones. The disease stage showed a notable influence on the degree of their visualization. In contrast to IMHs which are regarded as the gold standard for the diagnosis of intracranial dissections, aneurysmal dilations were identified in 80% of cases even at the acute stage, reaching 100% at the early subacute stage. Despite the excellent detection rate of IMHs at the late subacute stage (100%), their detectability is poor at the acute and early subacute stages (0 and 40%, respectively).

CONCLUSION

The results of this study highlighted the importance of aneurysmal dilations on T2-weighted HRVWI as a diagnostic marker to raise suspicion of iACA-D at the acute and early subacute stages, and similarly IMHs on T1-weighted HRVWI to confirm the diagnosis of iACA-D at the late subacute stage. These stage-dependent detectability changes in IMHs and aneurysmal dilations make an understanding of the chronological changes of these abnormal imaging findings mandatory to achieve an early and accurate diagnosis of iACA-D.