Saccular aneurysm of the azygos anterior cerebral artery: three case reports

The azygos anterior cerebral artery, a rare anomaly in the circle of Willis in which only a single vessel supplies the medial aspects of both anterior cerebral hemispheres, is closely associated with saccular aneurysms. We present three cases of azygos anterior cerebral artery aneurysms among the 781 cerebral aneurysms surgically treated at our institution in an 11-year period. These three cases all involved elderly women who presented with subarachnoid hemorrhage. Conventional cerebral angiography and CT angiography revealed small saccular aneurysms at the distal ends of the azygos anterior cerebral arteries. These aneurysms were clipped successfully using a bifrontal interhemispheric approach. Hence, the pathogenesis of these particular aneurysms relating to hemodynamic change, associated anomalies, and surgical pitfalls is discussed with review of literature.