A 67-year-old female with a medical history of hypertension and active smoking presented to the emergency department after experiencing a severe headache of sudden onset in the right side of her head. The patient had undergone elective screening colonoscopy the day prior. The morning following the colonoscopy procedure she woke up experiencing a right-sided headache associated with nausea, right-arm pain, right eye blurry vision, and slight fingertip numbness on her right side after which she decided to come to the hospital. She denied any recent trauma, fever, chills, or neck stiffness. On physical examination, she was neurologically intact.\nNoncontrast head CT demonstrated no acute intracranial pathology, specifically no evidence of subarachnoid hemorrhage. CT angiogram (CTA) demonstrated a 4.2 × 4.2 × 4.2 mm fusiform aneurysm arising off the superior cerebellar artery, approximately 1.5 cm distal to its origin off the basilar artery. The headache subsided the following day. Diagnostic cerebral angiogram was performed and redemonstrated the fusiform aneurysm, essentially unchanged in appearance when compared to the CTA []. The patient was started on dual antiplatelet agents consisting of clopidogrel 75 mg daily and aspirin 325 mg daily. One week later, the patient underwent successful Pipeline embolization of the aneurysm []. Briefly, a 6-Fr sheath was inserted into the right common femoral artery and a 6-Fr Benchmark guide catheter (penumbra) advanced over a diagnostic catheter and glide wire into the right vertebral artery. Through the guide catheter, a Phenom Plus distal access catheter was advanced over a Phenom microcatheter and Synchro-2 microwire into the proximal basilar artery. The microcatheter was then advanced over the microwire into the right superior cerebellar artery distal to the aneurysm. A 2.5 mm wide and 10 mm length Pipeline embolization device was then deployed along the fusiform aneurysm. Postdeployment angiogram demonstrated excellent apposition of the device to the parent vessel and evidence of some contrast stagnation within the aneurysm.\nThe patient was neurologically intact postoperatively and was discharged home on postoperative day 2. A cerebral angiogram performed 6 months later demonstrated resolution of the aneurysm with patency of the superior cerebellar artery []. The patient had no complaints and was neurologically intact.
A 50-year-old lady, who had a history of hypertension, presented with severe headache and ataxia. CT scan done at admission showed acute right cerebellar hematoma []. DSA done subsequently revealed fusiform aneurysm of the cisternal segment of the SCA []. Endovascular treatment was done under general anesthesia with inside out coiling of the aneurysm with platinum coils []. Standard heparin protocol was followed and an activated clotting time greater than 250 s was maintained during the procedure. 5F Envoy (cordis) guiding catheter was placed in the distal vertebral artery. A combination of echelon-10 micro-catheter (ev3) and transcend 0.014 micro-wire (Stryker) were used to access the aneurysms and multiple axiom (ev3) coils were used to occlude the aneurysm. Post-coiling angiogram showed complete exclusion of the aneurysm from the circulation. The post-operative period was uneventful. The patient's neurological examination done after 1 month was completely normal. Control angiogram done at the end of 1 year showed stable occlusion with no re-canalization of the aneurysm [].