Prevalence of Unruptured Intracranial Aneurysms Coexisting with Pituitary Adenomas

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between asymptomatic unruptured intracranial aneurysms (IAs) and pituitary adenomas (PAs) in Chinese people.

Methods: In total, 434 patients with newly diagnosed PA and 252 control subjects from the general population who underwent brain computed tomography angiography examination were included. The incidence of IAs and the location of IAs in patients with PA were compared with those in control subjects. The patients with PA with IA were compared with the patients without IA to identify the risk factors for an increased incidence of IA.

Results: The coexistence of PA and IA was found in 36 patients (8.3%), whereas IAs were found in only 2.4% of the general control subjects, resulting in a significant difference. After stratifying by age, the prevalence of IAs among the patients with PA was still higher than that among the general control subjects in the 5th decade (P = 0.023) and 6th decade (P = 0.035). Most IAs (66.7%) were located in the internal carotid artery, and the location of the IAs did not differ between the patients with PA and the general population. The stepwise multivariate logistic regression indicated that age (P = 0.004) and cavernous sinus invasion (P = 0.022) were related to an increased prevalence of IAs in patients with PA. However, hormone type and sex were not significantly associated with IA prevalence.

Conclusions: The patients with PA have an increased incidence of IA compared with age-matched control subjects. Older age and cavernous sinus invasion might be correlated with the increased prevalence of IAs in Chinese patients with PA.

Keywords: Coexistence; Intracranial aneurysm; Pituitary adenoma; Prevalence.