ECG-Gated 4D-CTA Assessment of Intracranial Aneurysm Wall Dynamics and Longitudinal Size Change: An Exploratory Study

The risk stratification of unruptured intracranial aneurysms (UIAs) relies largely on static clinical and morphological parameters, which may not fully capture aneurysm-specific wall behavior. ECG-gated four-dimensional computed tomography angiography (4D-CTA) enables the time-resolved assessment of aneurysm wall motion, but reliable interpretation requires the differentiation of biological motion from measurement uncertainty.

In this prospective exploratory pilot study, ECG-gated 4D-CTA was used to evaluate the longitudinal aneurysm size change, global volumetric pulsation (GVP), spatial wall pulsation (SWP), intrinsic wall deformability and variability. Size change and pulsation were defined using predefined resolution- and noise-based thresholds. Spatial wall motion was assessed using phase-resolved three-dimensional displacement maps. Harmonic modeling isolated periodic pulsation, and residual variability exceeding empirically derived uncertainty limits was conservatively interpreted as deformability. Associations with aneurysm growth and ELAPSS scores were analyzed using exploratory statistics.

Eleven UIAs in ten patients were followed for 4.3 ± 1.1 years. A longitudinal size change occurred in six aneurysms (54.5%). Baseline GVP was present in eight aneurysms (73%) and SWP in nine (82%). GVP was not associated with a size change (p = 1.00). All aneurysms with a size change exhibited baseline SWP, whereas no size change was observed in aneurysms without SWP; however, this association did not reach statistical significance in this small exploratory cohort (p = 0.18). Conservative variability metrics were not associated with growth but correlated with baseline shape irregularity, particularly the undulation index (Spearman's ρ up to ~0.90).

In this small exploratory pilot cohort, spatial wall pulsation showed a descriptive directional pattern with longitudinal aneurysm size changes, whereas global volumetric pulsation did not. These findings are preliminary, should be interpreted cautiously, and require confirmation in larger, adequately powered longitudinal studies before clinical application.