Giant cavernous carotid aneurysm with spontaneous ipsilateral ICA occlusion: Report of 2 cases and review of literature

• Main Authors: Savitr BV Sastri, Nishanth Sadasiva, Paritosh Pandey
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Thieme Medical and Scientific Publishers Pvt. Ltd. 2013-12-01
• Series: Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice
• Subjects: balloon test occlusion; cavernous carotid artery; giant aneurysm; spontaneous occlusion
• Online Access: http://www.thieme-connect.de/DOI/DOI?10.4103/0976-3147.116439

Giant aneurysms of the cavernous carotid artery are rare entities which present predominantly with features of compression of the adjacent neural structures, most commonly the III, IV, VI and V cranial nerves. Historically, treatment options included occlusion of the feeding vessel, direct surgery on the aneurysm, bypass procedures and in recent times, the use of endovascular devices. While intramural thrombus formation is commonly seen in giant aneurysms, we present 2 cases of giant cavernous aneurysms which on evaluation were found to have spontaneous occlusion of the feeding internal carotid artery secondary to thrombus formation, and review the available literature regarding the same.