Navigation-guided K eyhole Approach for Unruptured Intracranial Aneurysms

Objectives : In vascular neurosurgery, the pterional approach has primarily been used in the treatment of a wide variety of diseases. However, there has been an increasing interest in minimally invasive procedures or keyhole approaches for treating cerebral aneurysms. We report our experience with a neuronavigation-guided keyhole approach in the treatments of various intracranial aneurysms. Methods : Between December 2008 and December 2010, 32 patients with unruptured intracranial aneurysms were treated by direct surgical neck clipping through the neuronavigation-guided keyhole approach. A 4 to 5 cm-sized skin incision and a small $2.5{\times}4cm$ craniotomy was performed around the sylvian fissure. The remainder of the aneurysm surgery was performed using conventional microsurgical techniques. Results : The enrolled patients comprised 15 men and 17 women, with a mean age of 63.06 years (range, 47 to 79 years). Of these, 21 aneurysms were in the middle cerebral artery (MCA) bifurcation; 3, in the M1; 5, in the posterior communicating artery segment; 2, in the anterior communicating artery; and 1, in the anterior choroidal artery segment. The size of the aneurysms ranged from 3.5 to 4.8 mm. Mean operation time was 2.19 hours (range, 100 to 150 minutes). All patients were clipped successfully. There were no procedure related complications. Conclusion : We suggest that the navigation-guided keyhole approach is useful for the treatment of anterior circulation aneurysms in selected cases. It has the advantages of less operative time, fewer days of hospitalization, and cosmetic results.