A 16 Year Experience with Modified Lateral Supraorbital Approach for Ruptured Cerebral Aneurysms

Abstract

Objectives: Upto now, most authors reported the supraorbital approach for unruptured aneurysm and small and less complex aneurysm. The authors devised the Modified Lateral Supraorbital (MLSO) approach. We present a 16 year experience with MLSO approach for ruptured anterior circulation aneurysms and some parts of posterior circulation aneurysms. Materials and Methods:Aneurysm clipping surgery through the MLSO approach was performed on a total 323 patients. Baseline demographics, operative time, procedural complications, and clinical outcomes at 6 months and 1 year were retrospectively analyzed.Results: For patients treated MLSO approach, 293 had single aneurysms and 30 had multiple aneurysms. The proportion of small, medium, large, and giant aneurysms were 64% (206/323), 31% (101/323), 4.7% (15/323), and 0.3% (1/323). Mean operation time was 219.6 minutes. Procedural complications occurred in 21 cases (6.5%). Five patients died from severe brain swelling and refusal of additional treatment, while 1 patient died from tonsilar herniation due to lumbar catheter drainage. Favorable clinical outcomes, Glasgow Outcome Scale IV or V, were observed in 82.6% (267/293) and 83.6% (270/293) at 6 months and one year follow-up.The MLSO approach has the following advantages: less brain retraction, good surgical field for high positioned A-com or basilar tip aneurysm surgery, short operation time, small skin incision, minimizing temporal muscle manipulation and good cosmetic appearance. Conclusions:The MLSO approach can be considered as a useful approach for neurosurgeons for cases of general ruptured aneurysm, except those with a large amount of intracerebral hemorrhage and severe brain swelling.