Published Online
on November 6, 2003

A more recent version of this article appeared on December 1, 2003

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Submitted on July 10, 2003
Accepted on July 22, 2003

Repeated Screening for Intracranial Aneurysms in Familial Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

Marieke J.H. Wermer MD^*; Gabriël J.E. Rinkel MD, FAHA; and Jan van Gijn MD, FRCP, FRCPE

From the Department of Neurology, Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands.

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: m.wermer{at}neuro.azu.nl.

Background and Purpose--In families with 2 first-degree relatives with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), screening for aneurysms is often recommended. The benefit of repeated screening and the interval at which screening should be performed are unknown. We studied patient compliance and the yield of repeated screening for familial intracranial aneurysms.

Methods--Relatives with familial SAH screened between 1990 and 1997 were advised to return every 5 years for follow-up screening with MR angiography. If neurosurgical clipping had been performed in the past, screening was done with CT angiography. We analyzed the results for the group as a whole and for the subgroups of relatives with and without previous aneurysms.

Results--Of 129 relatives who were advised to undergo further screening, 27 did not return, 74 had 1 repeated screening, and 28 had a second repeated screening. We detected 10 new aneurysms in 9 of the 102 screened relatives (9%), 3 of the 19 relatives with previous aneurysms (16%), and 6 of the 83 relatives without previous aneurysms (7%). One of the 9 subjects with a new aneurysm and 1 other relative had an SAH 3 years after a negative screening procedure.

Conclusions--In persons with familial occurrence of aneurysms, the motivation for repeated screening every 5 years is high and the yield is considerable, particularly in relatives who have been treated for aneurysms in the past. The occurrence of SAH <5 years after a negative screen suggests that screening may have to be repeated at shorter intervals.

Key words: cerebral aneurysm • computed tomography • magnetic resonance angiography • subarachnoid hemorrhage

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