Atherosclerotic superficial temporal artery aneurysm: report of a case

We herein report a rare case of an atherosclerotic superficial temporal artery (STA) aneurysm. The patient was a 34-year-old Japanese man. He noticed a throbbing swelling just in front of his right ear, which had slowly increased in size. There was no history of trauma. Digital subtraction angiography and ultrasound revealed an aneurysm measuring 2cm in diameter fed by STA. A ligation and resection were performed under local anesthesia. The recovery period was uneventful. A microscopic examination revealed a moderate degree of atherosclerosis. We found 48 cases of STA aneurysm in the Japanese literature from 1969 to 1997, including our case. Thirty-six of these cases (75.0%) were considered to be traumatic in origin. Three cases (6.2%) occurred after a craniotomy. To date, only nine reported cases (18.8%) have been attributed to a spontaneous or congenital etiology.