Occipital artery-anterior inferior cerebellar artery bypass with microsurgical trapping for exclusively intra-meatal anterior inferior cerebellar artery aneurysm manifesting as subarachnoid hemorrhage. Case report.

A 77-year-old woman presented with an extremely rare exclusively intra-meatal anterior inferior cerebellar artery (AICA) aneurysm manifesting as subarachnoid hemorrhage. The aneurysm was located at a non-branching site of its meatal loop, deeply inside the internal auditory canal. The ipsilateral posterior inferior cerebellar artery was hypoplastic and the affected AICA supplied a wide vascular territory in the right cerebellum. The patient underwent microsurgical trapping of the distal AICA aneurysm in the acute stage. Collateral back flow to the parent artery was poor, so right occipital artery (OA)-AICA anastomosis was performed prior to aneurysm trapping. The postoperative course was uneventful, and magnetic resonance imaging after surgery did not demonstrate any ischemic change. Postoperative angiography showed complete disappearance of the AICA aneurysm and the apparently patent OA-AICA bypass. She did not suffer neurological deficit except for right incomplete hearing disturbance, and postoperative single photon emission computed tomography demonstrated absence of hemodynamic compromise in the cerebellum. OA-AICA anastomosis with aneurysm trapping could be the optimal surgical management of the AICA aneurysm located exclusively inside the internal auditory canal, especially if the parent artery supplies a wide vascular territory.