[The association of polycystic kidneys with intracranial aneurysms (author's transl)]

A 48 year-old man is presented who died of rupture of intracranial aneurysm. Autopsy findings revealed a ruptured anterior communicating artery aneurysm associated with polycystic kidneys and polycystic liver. Epidermiological review is performed using "Annual of the Pathological Autopsy Case in Japan" (Vol. 17-20). In 92854 autopsy cases, there are 243 cases of polycystic kidney, 1542 cases of intracranial aneurysm and 10 cases of association with both of them. Several points come clear from comparing our data with foreign ones, as follows; 1) The frequency of polycystic kidney (0.25%) is almost the same between Japan and foreign country. 2) The frequency of intracranial aneurysm (1.6%) is higher in Japan. 3) The frequency of association with both (0.01%) is lower in Japan. 4) The frequency of intracranial aneurysm appears to be higher in cases suffered from polycystic kidney than in others. We suspected that cerebral aneurysm formation is caused by hypertension due to polycystic kidney, although in many reports, the association of polycystic kidney and cerebral aneurysm is explained to be maldevelopment. The operation of cerebral aneurysm with polycystic kidney is the same as that without polycystic kidney. But the control of hypertension and renal function is necessary during and after operation.