A 70-year-old woman with a history of hypertension developed acute onset of severe tightness
headache accompanied by vomiting. Patient reported having right diplopia and occasional and temporary right peripheral facial paralysis for two weeks. Neurological examination revealed only a right squint. Cerebral multi-detector computed tomographic angiography (MD-CTA) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) revealed a giant right internal carotid aneurysm (2.7 cm) at the cavenous segment (Figure 1A, 1B). No abnormalities were noted in subarachnoid spaces and white - grey matter. A selective digital subtraction angiography (DSA) of the right internal carotid artery confirmed the giant aneurysm at the cavenous segment (Figure 2A, 2B). Subsequently endovascular flow-diverting stent was deployed at the cavernous segment of the right internal carotid artery to treat over time the giant aneurysm. Her clinical course has no neurological symptoms and she was discharged after two days with established over time clinical and imaging follow-up.
Giant intracranial aneurysms and vascular anomalies of the internal carotid are rare, and are defined “giant” those greater than 2.5 cm in diameter (1-4). Conservative treatment of giant intracranial aneurysms have a mortality rates of 65-100% in 2-5 years (4). Clinical presentation of internal carotid aneurysms at the petrous segment can manifest from no-symptom to headache, cranial nerve disturbs and epistaxis (1-4). MD-CTA and MRI are the two gold standard methods for diagnosis in patients with suspected internal carotid artery and intracranial artery aneurysm (1,5). Internal carotid aneurysms at the cavenous segment are located in a surgically difficult accessible area, therefore endovascular percutaneous techniques are considered the first lines treatments (6).