EC-IC bypass for cavernous carotid aneurysms: An initial experience with twelve patients

Need for performing a bypass procedure prior to parent artery occlusion in patients with good cerebral vascular reserve is controversial. We analyze our experience of 12 giant internal carotid artery aneurysms treated with extracranial-intracranial (EC-IC) bypass and proximal artery occlusion.

Retrospective analysis of the case records of all complex carotid aneurysms operated in our institute since January 2009.

The study included eleven cavernous carotid aneurysms and one large fusiform cervical carotid aneurysm reaching the skull base. Preoperative assessment of cerebral vascular reserve was limited to Balloon test occlusion with hypotensive challenge. Eleven patients who successfully completed a Balloon test occlusion (BTO) underwent low flow superficial temporal artery to middle cerebral artery (STA-MCA) bypass, while one patient with a failed BTO underwent a high flow bypass using a saphenous vein graft. Parent artery ligation was performed in all patients following the bypass procedure. Check angiogram revealed thrombosis of the aneurysm in all patients with a graft patency rate of 81.8%. We had one operative mortality, probably related to a leak from the anastomotic site. The only patient who had a high flow bypass developed contralateral hemispheric infarcts and remained vegetative. All the other patients had a good recovery and with a Glasgow outcome score of 5 at last follow-up.

We feel that combining EC-IC bypass prior to parent vessel occlusion helps in reducing the risk of post operative ischemic complications especially in situations where a complete mandated cerebral blood flow studies are not feasible.