Extracranial vertebral aneurysm with neurofibromatosis

With neurofibromatosis neuromas of the cranial and cervical nerves are common findings and meningiomas and ependymonas appear more often than in the average population. Vascular manifestations of the disease are also commonly known in the renal and gastrointestinal vessels but rarely in the large cerebral arteries. The case of a 50 year old man with neurofibromatosis and a vertebral aneurysm is reported. The plain X-ray of the cervical spine and the Pantopaque myelogram were compatible with a cervical neuroma and the patient was operated but a large aneurysm of the vertebral artery was found. The operation was discontinued and vertebral angiography was performed revealing a large saccular aneurysm which war excised. This aneurysm is most probably a manifestation of vascular disease with neurofibromatosis.