Endovascular treatment of carotid dissecting aneurysms.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Cervical arterial dissection is a well-recognised cause for acute ischaemic stroke. Dissecting aneurysms commonly occur in the affected vessels contributing to the clinical presentation. Persistence of these aneurysms may provide a source of future embolic events as well as causing local symptoms or even be at risk of spontaneous rupture.

METHODS: We describe 4 patients with traumatic internal carotid artery (ICA) dissections with aneurysm formation at the skull base. Three of the 4 patients still had carotid aneurysms on follow-up investigations and so underwent endovascular procedures using stenting and coil techniques. The carotid aneurysm resolved spontaneously in the fourth patient.

RESULTS: The endovascular procedures resulted in significant reduction or obliteration of the flow within the carotid aneurysms with restoration of the true lumen diameter in the adjacent ICA in all 3 patients. No perioperative complications were experienced except for transient headache in 2 patients.

CONCLUSIONS: In patients with persistent aneurysms the exact risk of subsequent ischaemic events remains unknown and prospective long-term studies are needed to ascertain this risk. If recurrent stroke rates are found to be high, then carotid stenting (with or without coil insertion) is a feasible invasive approach which could be considered in these patients.