[Ruptured intracranial aneurysm combined with multiple cerebral vessel anomalies; a case report]

We report a very rare case of subarachnoid hemorrhage associated with fenestration of the anterior cerebral artery (ACA), the accessory middle cerebral artery (A-MCA) and the duplication of the middle cerebral artery (D-MCA). It seems that this is the first report of these combined intracranial vascular anomalies, although many authors have reported each anomaly in isolation. A 50-year-old male visited a local physician complaining of the sudden onset of a severe pulsating headache. A lumbar puncture showed bloody cerebrospinal fluid, and he was transferred to our institution. An emergency CT scan showed no apparent subarachnoid hemorrhage, but the left internal carotid angiography showed a saccular aneurysm at the origin of the D-MCA. Other anomalies, such as the fenestration of the ACA and the A-MCA, were also apparent during angiography. The ruptured aneurysm was safely clipped on the next day and the patient was discharged with no neurological deficits three weeks after the operation. The incidence of fenestration of the ACA is 0.2% in the angiographic series, and 0.1-7.2% at autopsy. Fenestration of the ACA is thought to be less than that of the vertebral artery. Ever since it was proposed by Teal et al, the term A-MCA has been restricted to an artery that arises from the ACA, and a branch arising from the internal carotid artery has been termed as the D-MCA. These anomalous vessels supply the cortex in the distribution of the middle cerebral artery. The angiographic incidence of A-MCA is about 4%, and six cases of aneurysm located at the origin of the A-MCA have been reported so far.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)