Cerebral Aneurysm Associated with an Arachnoid Cyst: 3 Case Reports and a Systematic Review of the Literature.

BACKGROUND: Arachnoid cysts and intracranial aneurysms are not rare, but it is unusual for an aneurysm to be associated with an arachnoid cyst. The objective of this study was to reveal the association between arachnoid cysts and intracranial aneurysms.

METHODS: Methods included to report 3 cases with these 2 pathologies and to perform a systematic review of the English and Japanese literature using PubMed, Scopus, and Ichushi Web.

RESULTS: The first case was of a 46-year-old man with a subarachnoid hemorrhage on the basal cistern and bilateral arachnoid cysts in the middle fossa, the second was that of a 29-year-old woman with a subarachnoid hemorrhage at the basal cistern and an arachnoid cyst in the left middle fossa, and the third was that of a 60-year-old man with a right putaminal hemorrhage and contralateral unruptured aneurysm and arachnoid cyst. A literature search for similar cases found 27 patients.

CONCLUSIONS: It was difficult to diagnose a ruptured aneurysm in some cases with an arachnoid cyst because computed tomography scan showed atypical findings, such as no hemorrhage, intracystic localized hemorrhage, or subdural hematoma. This review revealed that aneurysms and arachnoid cysts were significantly located ipsilaterally and that they occurred together in relatively young patients.