Both Surgical Clipping and Endovascular Embolization of Unruptured Intracranial Aneurysms Are Associated With Long-term Improvement in Self-Reported Quantitative Headache Scores

Abstract

Abstract BACKGROUND: The most common presenting symptom for unruptured intracranial aneurysms (UIAs) is headache (HA). However, most experts believe that UIAs associated with HAs are unrelated and incidental. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the incidence and characterization of HAs in patients with UIAs before and after treatment with either surgical clipping or endovascular embolization. METHOD: We prospectively determined the presence, sidedness, and severity of HAs preoperatively in patients who presented to the senior author with a UIA. A validated, quantitative 11-point HA pain scale was used in all patients. The same HA assessments were performed again on these patients an average of 32.4 months postoperatively. RESULTS: In this study, 92.45% (n = 53) of patents for whom we were able to obtain both a preoperative and postoperative pain score had an improvement in their HAs. The average quantitative HA score was 5.87 preoperatively vs 1.39 postoperatively (P < .001). There was no relationship found between the following: (1) HA severity vs aneurysm size, (2) sidedness of aneurysm vs sidedness of HA, and (3) HA improvement after surgical vs endovascular treatment. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that surgical and endovascular treatment of a UIA is associated with dramatic improvement in self-reported HA score an average of 32.4 months postoperatively.