Temporary clipping in the surgery of endocranial aneurysms

The authors' experience in the routine use of temporary clipping procedures in the surgery of endocranial aneurysms is reported. To analyse the validity of such a method we compared the outcome in a series of 153 aneurysms operated according to the traditional procedure (temporary clipping of the afferent vessel only in the case of intraoperative rupture of the aneurysmatic sac) with that of a more recent series of 225 in which the procedure was applied routinely. An unsatisfactory surgical outcome was found in 12.5% and 6.6% of patients respectively, with a corresponding unfavourable outcome in 5.6% and 2.6%.