[Surgical treatment of «Mirror» aneurysms of the internal carotid artery].

BACKGROUND: A relatively high occurrence of "mirror" aneurysms of the anterior cerebral circulation in neurosurgical practice necessitates generalization of experience of using different surgical approaches. The choice of treatment is usually associated with the number of surgical stages.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Forty nine patients (19 males and 30 females) with mirror aneurysms of the anterior circulation underwent one- and two-step surgery at the Novosibirsk Federal Center of Neurosurgery in 2013-2015. The total number of bilateral aneurysms was 51 couples (102 aneurysms). The patients' age ranged from 19 to 66 years (mean age, 47.1±11.6 years). Most of the patients (47) underwent elective surgery; 2 patients were operated on in acute subarachnoid hemorrhage.

RESULTS: Sixty nine microsurgical operations and 19 endovasal interventions were performed during the main step. Microsurgery alone was used in 34 cases; endovascular surgery alone was performed in 6 cases; a combination of the techniques was used in 9 cases. Ten patients underwent one-step surgery, and 39 patients underwent two-step surgery. The radicalness of surgery amounted to 94.1% for the microsurgical technique and 83.3% for the endovasal technique. The excellent and good functional outcome (modified Rankin scale, 0-2) was achieved in 46 (93.9%) patients, and the poor outcome (mRs, 3-5) was observed in 3 (6.1%) patients.

CONCLUSION: Generalization of the results indicates that one-stage surgery is more preferable in the treatment of mirror cerebral aneurysms. However, the two-stage approach remains important and, in the case of certain anatomical peculiarities, is the only possible treatment. A combination of microsurgical and endovascular techniques improves clinical outcomes in treatment of mirror aneurysms of the anterior part of the cerebral arterial circle.