1. Embolization of a giant pediatric, posttraumatic, skull base internal carotid artery aneurysm with a liquid embolic agent
- Author
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Robert A. Mericle, Scott D. Simon, and Adam S. Reig
- Subjects
Carotid Artery Diseases ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Horner Syndrome ,medicine.medical_treatment ,Horner syndrome ,Embolic Agent ,Aneurysm ,Occlusion ,medicine ,Humans ,Dimethyl Sulfoxide ,Off-Road Motor Vehicles ,cardiovascular diseases ,Embolization ,Child ,Skull Base ,Aspirin ,medicine.diagnostic_test ,business.industry ,Anticoagulants ,Intracranial Aneurysm ,General Medicine ,medicine.disease ,Embolization, Therapeutic ,Cerebral Angiography ,Surgery ,Treatment Outcome ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Brain Injuries ,Angiography ,Female ,Polyvinyls ,Radiology ,Tomography, X-Ray Computed ,business ,Carotid Artery, Internal ,medicine.drug ,Artery - Abstract
Many treatments for posttraumatic, skull base aneurysms have been described. Eight months after an all-terrain-vehicle accident, this 12-year-old girl presented with right-side Horner syndrome caused by a 33 × 19–mm internal carotid artery aneurysm at the C-1 level. We chose to treat the aneurysm with a new liquid embolic agent for wide-necked, side-wall aneurysms (Onyx HD 500). We felt this treatment would result in less morbidity than surgery and was less likely to occlude the parent artery than placement of a covered stent, especially in a smaller artery in a pediatric patient. Liquid embolic agents also appear to be associated with a lower chance of recanalization and lower cost compared with stent-assisted coil embolization. After the patient was treated with loading doses of aspirin, clopidogrel bisulfate, and heparin, 99% of the aneurysm was embolized with 9 cc of the liquid embolic agent. There were no complications, and the patient remained neurologically stable. Follow-up angiography revealed durable aneurysm occlusion after 1 year. The cost of Onyx was less than the cost of coils required for coil embolization of similarly sized intracranial aneurysms at our institution. Liquid embolic agents can provide a safe, efficacious, and cost-effective approach to treatment of select giant, posttraumatic, skull base aneurysms in pediatric patients.
- Published
- 2009