Prevalence of cerebral aneurysms in patients with persistent primitive trigeminal artery

Object. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of cerebral s accular aneurysms in patients with persistent primitive trigeminal artery ( PPTA). The prevalence of cerebral saccular aneurysms in patients with PPTA previously has been reported to be 14 to 32%, but this rate range is unreli able because it is based on collections of published case reports rather th an a series of patients chosen in an unbiased manner. Methods. The authors retrospectively evaluated their own series of 34 patie nts with PPTA to determine the prevalence of cerebral aneurysms in this pop ulation. The prevalence of intracranial aneurysms in patients with PPTA was approximately 3% (95% confidence interval 0-9%). Conclusions. The prevalence of intracranial aneurysms in patients with PPTA is no greater than the prevalence of intracranial aneurysms in the general population.