Atherosclerotic Aneurysm of the Basilar Artery and Hydrocephalus. A Case Report

Intracranial aneurysms are fairly common. Many of them produce no symptoms, often remaining undiagnosed during life. At autopsy, aneurysms of the basilar artery appear in 2 to 5% of the cases; among them, saccular and congenital aneurysms are more common than atherosclerotic and fusiform aneurysms. A case of atherosclerotic aneurysm of the basilar artery diagnosed at autopsy in an 88-year-old man is presented. This patient had been admitted with a diagnosis of ischemic stroke, intracranial hypertension and hydrocephalus, which led physicians to consider a posterior fossa tumor. This paper aims at presenting the autopsy findings that showed the presence of an atherosclerotic aneurysm of the basilar artery.