Objective: To assess the radiological characteristics and therapeutic strategies of intracranial aneurysms in childhood and adolescence.
Methods: From our dedicated aneurysmal patient databank, the investigators reviewed 39 consecutive children and adolescents with 44 intracranial aneurysms. There were 24 boys and 15 girls.
Results: Twenty-two patients underwent endovascular treatment. Among them, 8 patients received microsurgical therapy. Aneurysms became spontaneously thrombosed before therapy in 3 patients. One patient died pre-operatively from a re-rupture of aneurysm. And 5 cases were not treated at all.
Conclusion: Intracranial aneurysms in childhood and adolescence have many clinical and radiological characteristics: (1) remarkable male predominance; (2) middle cerebral artery is the most common site for aneurysms; (3) there is a high prevalence of giant, traumatic, dissecting and fusiform aneurysms; (4) both microsurgical approaches and endovascular treatment were effective. For some giant complex intracranial aneurysms, parent arterial occlusion or EC-IC (extracranial-intracranial) bypass is the best therapeutic choice. A majority of patients may have favorable outcomes.