
Management of unruptured incidentally found intracranial saccular aneurysms.
Unruptured intracranial saccular aneurysms occur in 3-5% of the general population. As the use of diagnostic medical imaging has steadily increased over the past few decades with the increased availability of computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), so has the detection of incidental aneurysms. The management of an unruptured intracranial saccular aneurysm is challenging for both patients and physicians, as the decision to intervene must weigh the risk of rupture and resultant subarachnoid hemorrhage against the risk inherent to the surgical or endovascular procedure. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of factors to be considered in the decision to offer treatment for unruptured intracranial aneurysms in adults. In addition, we review aneurysm and patient characteristics that favor surgical clipping over endovascular intervention and vice versa. Finally, the authors propose a novel, simple, and clinically relevant algorithm for observation versus intervention in unruptured intracranial aneurysms based on the PHASES scoring system.
Duke Scholars
Altmetric Attention Stats
Dimensions Citation Stats
Published In
DOI
EISSN
Publication Date
Volume
Issue
Start / End Page
Location
Related Subject Headings
- Subarachnoid Hemorrhage
- Neurology & Neurosurgery
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging
- Intracranial Aneurysm
- Humans
- Endovascular Procedures
- Aneurysm, Ruptured
- Adult
- 3209 Neurosciences
- 3203 Dentistry
Citation

Published In
DOI
EISSN
Publication Date
Volume
Issue
Start / End Page
Location
Related Subject Headings
- Subarachnoid Hemorrhage
- Neurology & Neurosurgery
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging
- Intracranial Aneurysm
- Humans
- Endovascular Procedures
- Aneurysm, Ruptured
- Adult
- 3209 Neurosciences
- 3203 Dentistry