Background: Multiple intracranial aneurysms (MIAs) are associated with poorer outcomes after rupture than are single intracranial aneurysms (SIAs). Although the risk factors for intracranial aneurysm rupture have been widely investigated, few studies have focused on MIAs. Thus, the present study aimed to determine whether there are differences in the patient and aneurysm characteristics between those with ruptured and unruptured anterior circulation MIAs (AC-MIAs).
Method: The present study included 97 patients with AC-MIAs (58 ruptured, 39 unruptured). Data regarding patient characteristics, aneurysm location, mirror aneurysms (MirAns), and bleb formations were collected from medical records and angiography images. Three-dimensional (3D) geometries generated with a 3D Slicer were evaluated to determine the range of morphological parameters. A univariate analysis was conducted to identify significant differences between the groups and receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were performed for each morphological parameter.
Results: There are significantly fewer patients younger than 40 years of age in the ruptured group (P = 0.04); although the groups did not significantly differ with regard to smoking and hypertension, the ruptured group included significantly more current smokers who smoked more than 20 cigarettes per day (P = 0.025) and significantly more patients with a history of hypertension but an irregular use of anti-hypertensive medications (P = 0.043). Ruptured AC-MIAs were more likely to be located in the internal carotid artery (ICA) communicating artery (ICA C7) and anterior communicating artery (AComA; P = 0.000), to have formed a pair of MirAns (P = 0.001), and to have a bleb formation (P = 0.000). In terms of morphological parameters, the two groups differed significantly regarding aneurysm size (P = 0.000), neck width (P = 0.016), bottleneck factor (BNF; P = 0.000), height/width ratio (H/W; P = 0.031), aspect ratio (AR; P = 0.000) and size ratio (SR; P = 0.000). Additionally, the ROC analyses revealed that the optimal threshold size for rupture was 4.00 mm and that the SR had the highest area under the curve (AUC) value (0.826).
Conclusions: The present study found that current smokers who smoked more than 20 cigarettes per day and those with hypertension but an irregular use of anti-hypertensive medications were more likely to suffer from rupture. Aneurysm location and bleb formation were closely related to the rupture of AC-MIAs, and SR was a better predictor of AC-MIAs rupture status than size, neck width, BNF, H/W and AR. These findings should be verified by future prospective follow-up studies of AC-MIAs.
Keywords: Aneurysm characteristics; Anterior circulation; Morphological parameter; Multiple intracranial aneurysms; Patient characteristics.