An analysis of the geometry of saccular intracranial aneurysms

Our goal was to characterize the geometry of simple-lobed cerebral aneurysms and to find the absolute size of these lesions from angiographic tracings.

Measurements of angiographic neck width (N), dome height (H), dome diameter (D), and semi-axis height (S) were obtained from tracings of 87 simple-lobed lesions located at the basilar bifurcation (BB), middle cerebral (MCA), anterior communicating (AcomA), posterior communicating (PcomA), superior cerebellar (SCA), and posterior cerebral (PCA) arteries. The following ratios were analyzed as subgroups according to location and as a collective sample: dome diameter/dome height (D/H), dome height/neck width (H/N), dome diameter/neck width (D/N), and dome height/semi-axis height (H/S). Using the parent artery as a reference, aneurysm dimensions were normalized to absolute in vivo size. Estimations were validated using angiographic markers.

For the entire sample, mean ratios were D/H = 1.11, D/N = 1.91, and H/N = 1.86. For the H/S ratio, the value was 1.98 for BB, MCA, and PcomA lesions and significantly smaller for the AcomA subgroup, at 1.52. The average sizes (in mm) for these dimensions were N = 3.4 for MCA, 3.0 for AcomA, 3.1 for PcomA, and 6.5 for BB; D = 6.1 for MCA, 5.9 for AcomA, 5.3 for PcomA, and 11.7 for BB; H = 5.6 for MCA, 5.0 for AcomA, 5.3 for PcomA, and 11.3 for BB. On average, BB aneurysms were twice as large as aneurysms at other locations. Good correlations were found between the scaled values for D and N, H and N, and H and D.

These results have been used to characterize the typical simple-lobed aneurysm geometry and to provide a framework for the development of a method of assessment of treatment choice and outcome on the basis of lesion geometry.