Intracranial aneurysms: morphological, clinical and operative aspects

Intracranial giant aneurysms are defined as those larger than 2.5 cm in diameter. These aneurysms represent a clinicopathological entity that differs of ones smaller diameter regarding incidence of rupture, clinical presentation and therapeutic difficulties. The treatment of giant aneurysm can be conservative, endovascular or neurosurgical. This decision depends on factors such as anatomical localization and aneurysm characteristics, patient medical condition, age, surgical skills and possibility of endovascular treatment or bypass. Besides advancement of knowledge about pathogeny, hemodynamics, morphology, improvement of diagnostic imaging methods and development of endovascular and microsurgical techniques have improved the treatment outcome, giant aneurysms present bad prognosis and remain challenging the limits of neurosurgical techniques.