Evaluation of retroocular pain improvement in patients with giant carotid-cavernous aneurysms submitted to endovascular treatment / Avaliação da melhora da dor retro-ocular em pacientes com aneurismas gigantes do segmento intracavernoso da artéria carótida interna submetidos a tratamento endovascular

Resumo

Introduction and objective: Intracavernous aneurysms represent 3 to 11% of all intracranial aneurysms. As they are completely extradural lesions, they present a low risk for intracranial bleeding. Thus, they generally manifest by cranial nerves compression and headache. The objective of the present study is to evaluate the improvement in retroocular pain condition in patients with giant intracavernous aneurysms submitted to therapeutic endovascular occlusion of the internal carotid artery. Methods: In this descriptive, retrospective and prospective study, 23 patients diagnosed with giant aneurysm in the cavernous segment of the internal carotid artery were submitted to endovascular treatment with occlusion of the compromised internal carotid artery. The symptomatology of retroocular pain was evaluated before and after treatment by means of the Visual Analogue Scale. Results: In the preoperative evaluation, retroocular and periocular pain were present in 21 cases (91.30%), being characterized as strong intensity in 12 patients (52.17%) and moderate intensity in nine remaining patients (39.13%). In the postoperative evaluation, we observed the absence of pain in 15 patients. The pain symptoms were present in eight cases (34.78%), being characterized as moderate intensity in two and light intensity in six patients. Conclusions: The endovascular treatment showed an improvement in retroocular pain in patients with intracavernous giant aneurysms, especially in those suffering from uncontrollable pain.

Keywords: Pain; Headache; Intracranial aneurysm; Carotid artery, internal; Cavernous sinus; Endovascular procedures