Decision Making in Surgery for Nonsaccular Posterior Inferior Cerebellar Artery Aneurysms With Special Reference to Intraoperative Assessment of Collateral Blood Flow and Neurophysiological Function.

BACKGROUND: Posterior inferior cerebellar artery (PICA) aneurysms represent a challenging pathology. PICA sacrifice is often necessary, due to the high proportion of nonsaccular aneurysms that can be found in this location. Several treatments are available, but the infrequency of these aneurysms and the increasing number of endovascular techniques have limited the development of a standardized algorithm for cases in which open surgery is indicated.

OBJECTIVE: We present our series of nonsaccular PICA aneurysms, in the attempt to define an algorithm for their surgical management.

METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the operation database, identifying patients harboring nonsaccular PICA aneurysms who were surgically treated at our institution from 2007 to 2016.

RESULTS: During a 9-yr period, 17 patients harboring 18 nonsaccular PICA aneurysms were surgically treated at our institution. Fourteen (7.7%) aneurysms were located within the proximal PICA (including those located at the vertebral artery-PICA junction), and 4 were located distally. We performed PICA revascularization in 8 (57.1%) cases of proximal aneurysms (n = 4, PICA-PICA bypass; n = 4, occipital artery-PICA bypass). We based our decision whether to perform bypass on intraoperative test occlusion with indocyanine green (ICG) videoangiography and neurophysiological monitoring. In no cases, bypass was necessary for distal aneurysms.

CONCLUSION: For nonsaccular PICA aneurysms, in which vessel occlusion is often necessary, it is possible to adopt a selective use of revascularization techniques. Intraoperative occlusion test with ICG videoangiography and neurophysiological monitoring provides reliable indications, allowing real-time assessment of collateral circulation.