Temporary clipping during early operation for ruptured aneurysm: preliminary report

Temporary arterial occlusion was performed in 16 patients undergoing early aneurysm operation. Ten patients had a ruptured middle cerebral artery (MCA) aneurysm, and 6 had a ruptured anterior communicating artery aneurysm. Premature aneurysm rupture during operation necessitated temporary arterial occlusion in 10 patients. In 5 patients, temporary arterial occlusion was performed to facilitate dissection of the aneurysm. In 1 patient with a large MCA aneurysm, temporary occlusion was performed to provoke collapse of the completely exposed aneurysm sac, thus making clipping of the base possible. The results do not indicate that temporary occlusion by the standard aneurysm clips now in general use leads to angiographically detectable arterial wall changes or increased thromboembolic complications. Temporary clipping of the MCA proximal to the perforating arteries may be well tolerated for up to 20 minutes during early aneurysm operation. Temporary occlusion of one or both anterior cerebral arteries or temporary pericallosal clipping need not unconditionally lead to disastrous consequences if rendered necessary during aneurysm operations performed in the acute stage.