This study sought to determine the value of angiographic evaluation following the surgical treatment of intracranial aneurysms.
STUDY DESIGN
We retrospectively evaluated 40 patients (26 females, 14 males; mean age 48 years; range 6 to 76 years) who underwent surgical clipping for 51 aneurysms. Postoperative angiographic evaluations were made after a mean duration of II days (range 8 to 15 days) in all the patients to detect complications such as residual aneurysms or major vessel ocelusions. Residual aneurysms were classified by the Sindou grading system; neurological evaluations were made according to the Yaşargil's classification for subarachnoid hemorrhage. The mean follow-up was 7.25 months (ran ge 1 to 20 months).
RESULTS
Thirty-two patients (80%) had one aneurysm, six patients (15%) had two aneurysms, one patient had three (2.5%), and one patient had four aneurysms. Four residual aneurysms (7.8%) were documented, three of which were grade I, and one was grade IV. Grade I residual aneurysms were localized in the middle cerebral artery (n=2) and anterior communicating artery (n=l), and grade IV aneurysm was found in the anterior cerebral artery (A2). No major vessel occlusions or recurrent hemorrhages were encountered.
CONCLUSION
Although the incidences of residual aneurysms and vessel ocelusions following microsurgery are low, they should be taken into consideration. Routine angiographic assessments after aneurysm surgery seem to be justified in this respect.