Giant intracranial aneurysms: morphology and clinical presentation

The purpose of this study was to correlate the morphology of giant intracranial aneurysms (GIA) with their clinical presentation. Eighty patients with GIA, 14 males and 66 females, were studied. Univariate and multivariate analyses were made to test the associations between morphological and clinical features. The main locations of the unruptured GIA included the carotid cavernous segment, and for the ruptured GIA, the most frequent were the carotid supraclinoid and middle cerebral arteries. There was a significant association among communicating arteries (CA) of "bad" quality and presence of thrombus and calcification (TC). The risk of rupture is 8 times higher in patients with CA of "bad" quality and 11 times higher in patients without TC. GIA are more frequent in the cavernous segment. There is a high rupture risk in the middle cerebral artery. CA of "bad" quality are associated with TC. The rupture risk is significantly higher in patients without TC.