An internal carotid aneurysm in the petrous temporal bone.

Intracranial aneurysms have received much attention and provoked the interest of many investigators since Biumi of Milan described a case in 1765, a full account of which was later published by Sandifort in 1778. Out of 559 cases of intracranial aneurysms reported in the literature by von Hofmann (1894), Wichern (1912), Fearnsides (1916), Busse (1920-21), Drennan (1921), Szekely (1928), and Hamby (1952), none was reported to involve the internal carotid artery along its course in the petrous temporal bone. Pierini and Agra (1954) have described a case of petrous aneurysm without any pathological documentation.