Placement of interlocking fenestrated clips for a large broad-based middle cerebral artery aneurysm with atherosclerosis: Technical case report

Abstract Introduction Clip ligation of a large or giant middle cerebral artery (MCA) aneurysm is sometimes challenging, since these aneurysms commonly involve the efferent arteries and often show atherosclerotic changes in the aneurysm wall. We present herein a surgical case of large MCA aneurysm with atherosclerosis, and demonstrate a technique that enables adjustment of the patency of efferent arteries and the dog-eared remnant of the complex bifurcation aneurysm by placement of interlocking fenestrated clips. Case illustration A 63-year-old woman was referred to our hospital for treatment of a relatively large unruptured left MCA saccular aneurysm (dome height × neck width: 9.5 mm × 7.6 mm). She underwent microsurgical clip ligation of the aneurysm. Due to the atherosclerotic changes in the aneurysm neck and efferent arteries, a large amount of dog-eared remnant of the aneurysm neck or clip slippage was likely to occur following single clip ligation. The interlocking clip application technique was thus considered using fenestrated clips with high closure force at the tips, resulting in successful aneurysm obliteration without complicated replacement of the clips. Conclusion Although complex clip application techniques for large MCA aneurysms with atherosclerosis have been reported, the present technique could provide an alternative.