Iatrogenic false aneurysm caused by surgery of a traumatic intracranial false aneurysm.

A superficial temporal artery (STA) false aneurysm caused by surgery of a traumatic intracranial false aneurysm is reported. A 28-year-old man underwent craniotomy for aneurysm clipping 20 days after traumatic head injury. At surgery the aneurysm was a false aneurysm due to its avulsion from the parent artery without a real neck. A "clip wrapping" technique was used to repair the deficit on the parent artery. On postoperative Day 25, repeat digital subtraction angiogram (DSA) revealed a new right STA aneurysm, which was not apparent in the preoperative DSA. We feel that this aneurysm might have probably resulted from the iatrogenic injury to the STA during the initial surgery as the location of aneurysm was at the initial craniotomy site. The pathophysiology, etiology, surgical treatment and preventive measures of false aneurysms have been discussed.