Surgical Comparison of Pterional Approach with Interhemispheric Approach for High Positioned Anterior Communicating Artery Aneurysms

고위의 전교통동맥 동맥류에서의 Pterional Approach와 Interhemispheric Approach의 수술적 비교 분석

Objective : The purpose of this study is to evaluate and compare surgical results of pterional(fronto-temporal) approach and interhemispheric approach for the high positioned anterior communicating artery aneurysm with our surgical experience. Methods : During the period between May 1990 and May 2001, 263 anterior communicating aneurysms were treated at the department of neurosurgery of Dong-A university hospital. Among them, 175 patients were operated by same operator. Thirty six out of the 175 cases were high positioned anterior communicating artery aneurysms located more than 15mm above the anterior clinoid process. Results : Pterional approaches were applied in 32 cases and interhemispheric approaches were applied in 4 cases of total 36 cases of the high positioned anterior communicating artery aneurysms. The 32 cases of pterional approach resulted in Good Recovery 20/32(63%), Moderate Disability 6/32(19%), Severe Disability 4/32(12%) and Dead 2/32(6%), and 4 cases of interhemispheric approach resulted in GR 3/4(75%) and MD 1/4(25%). Relatively, pterional approach showed poorer result on high positioned anterior communicating artery aneurysm located more than 19mm above the anterior clinoid process with GR 5/13(39%), MD 3/13(23%), SD 3/13(23%) and Dead 2/13(15%). Conclusion : Interhemispheric approach is preferable to pterional approach for certain cases of high positioned anterior communicating artery aneurysm located more than 19 mm above the anterior clinoid process because it provides adequate orientation to the regional anatomy, less retraction of frontal lobe and preservation of the olfactory tract and gyrus rectus without any surgical complications.