Infantile intracranial aneurysm: report of a case and review of the literature.

The CT and angiographic diagnosis and successful surgical treatment of a ruptured cerebral aneurysm in a 1-month-old girl are described. The incidence of intracranial aneurysms in infancy is less than 1 % [1] . A review of intracranial aneurysms in the neonate and infant is presented to define clearly the incidence and clinical characteristics of aneurysms in this age group. We have reviewed 43 cases of neonatal and infantile aneurysms reported since 1916. Cerebral artery aneurysms are extremely rare in childhood . McDonald and Korb [2] reviewed 1125 cases of saccular cerebral aneurysms. Only 17 (1 .5%) of these aneurysms occurred in children . The youngest patient in this series was 1 V2 years old. Laitinen [3] reported a similar childhood incidence of 1.3% in 688 patients. Matson [4] identified 13 children with intracranial aneurysms in a 12-year period . The youngest patient in his series was 16 years old. Patel and Richardson [5] reviewed 3000 cases of subarachnoid hemorrhage in which the youngest patient was 8 years old. Locksley [6] , in the Cooperative Study in 1966, reviewed 2637 cases of cerebral aneurysms and found only one patient younger than 4 years old . Our patient represents the eighth reported case of an intracranial aneurysm in a neonate. In accordance with Dar/and's Medica/ Dictionary [7] we have defined the neonatal period as the first four weeks of life; infancy is defined as a period that extends to the end of the first 24 months.