Surgical treatment of asymptomatic and incidental intracranial aneurysms

A consecutive series of 78 patients underwent surgery for 106 aneurysms between 1972 and 1978; this group included 14 patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage who had multiple, unruptured, incidental aneurysms (20 additional aneurysms). These aneurysms were operated on with no mortality. In 15 other patients, who underwent angiography for various nonhemorrhagic disorders, a total of 18 asymptomatic aneurysms were found. These were also operated on with no mortality. Three of the 29 patients had postoperative hemiplegia, which persists in only one. The author recommends that all aneurysms should be considered for operation when diagnosed, if the patient's clinical condition is stable.