Background: In treating anterior choroidal artery (AChA) aneurysms, preserving the AChA main trunk is of course necessary to prevent postoperative ischemic complications. However, in practice, complete occlusions are often limited by small branches.
Objective: We aimed to demonstrate that even in cases where complete occlusion of the AChA aneurysm is complex due to small branches, complete occlusion can be safely achieved using indocyanine green video-angiography (ICG-VA) and intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring (IONM).
Results: Among 391 cases of unruptured AChA aneurysms treated surgically, 25 AChA aneurysms were clipped with small branches. AChA-related ischemic complications occurred in two cases (8%) without retrograde ICG filling to the branches. These two cases had changes in IONM. There were no ischemic complications in the remaining cases with retrograde ICG filling to the branches and no change in IONM. During an average follow-up of 47 months (12-111 months), a small residual neck was observed in 3 cases (12%) and recurrence or progression of the aneurysm was observed in only 1 case (4%).
Conclusion: The surgical treatment of AChA aneurysms carries the risk of devastating ischemic complications. Even in cases where complete clip ligation seems impossible due to small branches associated with AChA aneurysms, complete occlusion can be safely achieved using ICG-VA and IONM.
