Direct clip obliteration of a ruptured giant aneurysm of the posterior communicating artery: case report.

Abstract

A review of the literature documents that giant posterior communicating artery (PCoA) aneurysms are rare. To our knowledge, this report is the first to describe a ruptured giant aneurysm arising from a PCoA that was successfully clipped. A 27-year-old man had a left oculomotor palsy and then suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage. Cerebral angiography and three-dimensional computed tomographic angiography revealed a giant fusiform aneurysm of the left PCoA. These imaging techniques documented the rapid growth of the aneurysm from a moderate to a giant size in fewer than 3 days. The patient underwent a left subtemporal craniotomy. The neck was constructed and was successfully clipped, and the PCoA was reconstructed with five sequentially placed fenestrated clips in a tandem fashion. The patient experienced a good recovery. This report describes the usefulness of three-dimensional computed tomographic angiography in planning the surgical approach to giant aneurysms originating from the PCoA and the use of fenestrated clips to obliterate giant fusiform aneurysms.