Intravascular graft stent treatment of a ruptured fusiform dissecting aneurysm of the intracranial vertebral artery: technical case report.

Abstract

An innovative stenting technique to treat a difficult case of a fusiform aneurysm of the intracranial vertebral artery (VA), with restoration of the vessel lumen, is described. A 58-year-old patient experienced sudden pain in the upper cervical spine, followed by a severe headache. He underwent computed tomographic evaluation, which demonstrated subarachnoid hemorrhage in the prepontine cistern. A fusiform aneurysm of the distal right VA and critical stenosis of the left VA were detected in digital subtraction angiograms. The patient experienced a new subarachnoid hemorrhaging episode, and urgent endovascular treatment was planned. The patient underwent angioplastic and stenting procedures in the left VA, with good results. Forty-eight hours later, an endovascular procedure was performed to treat the right VA aneurysm. We decided to use a graft stent (Jostent graft stent; Jomed, Conroe, TX) instead of a balloon to preserve the arterial lumen. The complete procedure was well tolerated by the patient, and he was discharged, without symptoms, 48 hours later. The patient was discharged, without neurological deficits, 48 hours after completion of the endovascular procedure, with clopidogrel (75 mg/d) and aspirin (325 mg/d) therapy. This treatment was discontinued after 4 weeks. According to our search of the medical literature, this is the first clinical case in which an intracranial fusiform aneurysm was permanently sealed with a graft stent.