Romanian Neurosurgery (Jun 2012)
Technique possibilities for volumetric assessment of intracranial aneurysms
Abstract
Volume measurement techniques of intracranial aneurysms from 3D rotational angiography vary on different factor settings and, therefore, are operator-dependent. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the application and the precision of ellipsoidal approximation (mathematics and computer technique) and software methods to measure intracranial aneurysms volume starting from planar (DR and SD) and 3-dimensional (3D) angiographic images. The reliability of the methods was statistically compared in a clinical setting of 42 angiograms and 100 measurements performed by the same users. This study suggests that both techniques could be used for clinical applications with similar efficiency results. The 3D rotational angiography is an increasingly used method for cerebral aneurysms treatment planning. This complex imagistic method permits a better evaluation of cerebral aneurysms anatomy by an improved delimitation of vessels and aneurysms contours. Moreover, the 3D dataset can be used to calculate aneurysm volume. It is known the important role of aneurysm volume calculation in coil embolization treatment. To assess an optimal degree of coils aneurysm packing, it has become imperative to determine preoperatively the volume of the aneurysm to be embolized.