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ICA agenesis with transcavernous anastomosis: a systematic review

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A Correction to this article was published on 12 April 2023

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Abstract

Purpose

To present two cases of Internal Carotid Artery (ICA) agenesis and conduct a systematic review to assess for associations with other anomalies and intracranial aneurysms.

Methodology

We performed a retrospective review of published cases of patients with ICA agenesis with intercavernous anastomosis in MEDLINE database on August 2022 using search terms “internal carotid artery”, “agenesis” and “transcavernous anastomosis”. We also included two cases of ICA agenesis with type D collateral that we encountered.

Results

Total of 46 studies that included 48 patients and two of our cases resulted in 50 patients. Only 70% of studies reported the location of a collateral vessel of which more than two-thirds were on the floor of sella. More than half of the vessels connected cavernous segments of ICA. A1 segment ipsilateral to the side of ICA agenesis was absent in most of the cases but was not true for all cases. Aneurysm was seen in more than one-quarter of the patients. It can also mimic microadenoma as in prior reported cases as well as in one of our cases.

Conclusion

ICA agenesis with type D collateral is a rare anomaly but clinically relevant due to the increased risk of an aneurysm or mimic microadenoma or false alarm for occlusion of ICA but knowledge of this rare variant can help in better management of these patients.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. St. Vincent’s Medical Center, Bridgeport, CT, USA

    Ranjit Kumar Chaudhary, Elina Gupta, Yaser Baghdadi, Scott Smith & Joshua Sapire

  2. Frank H. Netter M.D. School of Medicine, Quinnipiac University, North Haven, CT, USA

    Derek Groskreutz

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  1. Ranjit Kumar Chaudhary
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Contributions

Kumar Chaudhary: Protocol/project development, Data analysis, Data collection or management. Groskreutz: Manuscript writing/editing, project organization, submission and correspondence. Gupta: Protocol/project development, Manuscript writing/editing, Data analysis, collection and management. Baghdadi: Protocol/project development, Manuscript writing/editing, Data analysis, collection and management. Smith: Protocol/project development, Manuscript writing/editing, Data analysis, collection and management. Sapire: Protocol/project development, Manuscript writing/editing, Data analysis, collection and management.

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Correspondence to Derek Groskreutz.

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Chaudhary, R.K., Groskreutz, D., Gupta, E. et al. ICA agenesis with transcavernous anastomosis: a systematic review. Surg Radiol Anat 45, 777–786 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00276-023-03117-8

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