Intravascular graft stent treatment of a ruptured fusiform dissecting aneurysm of the intracranial vertebral artery: Technical case report

OBJECTIVE AND IMPORTANCE: An innovative stenting technique to treat a difficult case of a fusiform aneurysm of the intracranial vertebral artery (VA), with restoration of the vessel lumen, is described. CLINICAL PRESENTATION: A 58-year-old patient experienced sudden pain in the upper cervical spine, followed by a severe headache. He underwent computed tomographic evaluation, which demonstrated subarachnoid hemorrhage in the prepontine cistern. A fusiform aneurysm of the distal right VA and critical stenosis of the left VA were detected in digital subtraction angiograms. The patient experienced a new subarachnoid hemorrhaging episode, and urgent endovascular treatment was planned. INTERVENTION: The patient underwent angioplastic and stenting procedures in the left VA, with good results. Forty-eight hours later, an endovascular procedure was performed to treat the right VA aneurysm. We decided to use a graft stent (Jostent graft stent; jomed, Conroe, TX) instead of a balloon to preserve the arterial lumen. The complete procedure was well tolerated by the patient, and he was discharged, without symptoms, 48 hours later. CONCLUSION: The patient was discharged, without neurological deficits, 48 hours after completion of the endovascular procedure, with clopidogrel (75 mg/d) and aspirin (325 mg/d) therapy. This treatment was discontinued after 4 weeks. According to our search of the medical literature, this is the first clinical case in which an intracranial fusiform aneurysm was permanently sealed with a graft stent.