Is droopy eyelids due to intracranial aneurysm

  The patient, a 38-year-old female, is a corporate executive who was admitted to the hospital with a headache accompanied by double vision in the right eyelid for 1 year and 2 days. The patient found that she could not open her right eye one year ago, and she went to ophthalmology and internal medicine for treatment many times, but no disease was detected.  After careful history and physical examination, the patient was immediately given a cranial CT examination, which revealed a high-density shadow in the right paracranial saddle. Hemorrhage? Further cranial MRI showed mixed signal in the right saddle, round, clear border, 3cm in diameter, Professor Song analyzed the possibility of aneurysm.  The doctor did a whole brain DSA examination for the patient and found a huge aneurysm in the cavernous sinus segment of the right internal carotid artery. Combined with the patient’s medical history, it was considered that the giant aneurysm produced a dominant effect and compressed the arteriolar nerve, causing the right eyelid to droop. Although this kind of aneurysm is located in the cavernous sinus and rupture is rare, its large size and obvious compression effect seriously affect the patient’s working life. After communicating with the patient’s family, the patient and his family strongly and actively intervene to treat it.  The current conventional interventional treatment for aneurysm in China is spring coil filling of the aneurysm, and for this kind of huge aneurysm, the recurrence rate is almost 100%, and more importantly, the occupying effect of the aneurysm cannot be solved, and this is where the patient suffers!  In order to solve the complete cure of the aneurysm and resolve the compression symptoms caused by the aneurysm, Professor Song recommended the latest PIPELINE embolization device to the patient – a new type of dense mesh stent system, which is designed for large intracranial aneurysms and the trial proved that the aneurysm cure rate is extremely high. After consideration, the patient’s family requested the application of the pipeline embolization device to treat the aneurysm.  After thorough preoperative preparation, the physicians performed the pipeline stenting procedure. The patient was able to open his right eye from 2 months after the operation, which gradually improved and returned to full normal after 4 months. The aneurysm was completely cured by DSA and the MRI of the head indicated complete absorption and fading of the aneurysm in June after the operation. The patient has now returned to his workplace to carry out his work normally.  The dense mesh stent pipeline embolization device has obvious advantages in treating intracranial aneurysms, especially large and huge intracranial aneurysms, which not only can completely cure the aneurysm, but also can relieve the occupying compression effect of the aneurysm and save the patient a huge amount of medical expenses, achieving a triple effect. However, not all aneurysms are suitable for treatment with pipeline embolization device, and the best treatment plan should be formulated according to the specific situation after a thorough evaluation by neurosurgery and neurointerventional specialists.