Unruptured intracranial aneurysms--an unusual source of epilepsy

Six patients with epilepsy were found to have intracranial aneurysms, mainly in the middle cerebral territory. The mechanism of production of these presenting symptoms is considered to be a minor haemorrhage with localized destruction of brain, or calcification in the aneurysmal wall behaving as a hamartoma. In the differential diagnosis of factors causing epileptic attacks, an intracranial aneurysm should be considered, and its presence should be excluded by angiography before any blind surgical procedure for epilepsy is undertaken.