Endovascular Treatment of a Symptomatic Vertebral Artery Pseudoaneurysm

A 35-year-old patient was brought to the emergency department referring dysarthria, left ear tinnitus for 5 min, and short-lasting blindness, with headache in the 45 min before the clinical presentation. In the magnetic resonance imaging, an acute-subacute lesion in the cerebellum right-anterior lobe (in the territory of the cerebellum anterior artery) and a dilatation near the ostium of the right vertebral artery were seen. For a better assessment, an Angio-CT was done, showing a 9-mm saccular pseudoaneurysm of the right vertebral artery close to the origin of the vessel, without being able to determine if it had been caused because of a dissection. The rest of the study (cerebral vessels and supra-aortic vessels) showed no disorders. He was operated under local anesthesia and sedation a week after the onset of the symptoms. Through a 0.014 wire, a Biotronik PK Papyrus balloon-expandable covered cobalt-chromium stent was deployed covering the hole in the artery. Antiplatelet drugs were prescribed, and the patient was discharged 24 hr after surgery. He has remained symptom free since then.