Imaging markers of intracranial aneurysm development: A systematic review

Abstract

Background: Imaging markers of intracranial aneurysm (IA) development are not well established.

Purpose: To provide an overview of imaging markers of IA development.

Methods: A systematic search of PubMed and Embase up to December 1st 2020 using predefined criteria. Thirty-six studies met our inclusion criteria. We performed a quantitative summary of the included studies.

Results: We found converging evidence for A1 segment asymmetry as an anatomical marker of anterior communicating artery (Acom) aneurysm development, and moderate evidence for several other markers. No hemodynamic markers yielded converging or moderate evidence. There was large heterogeneity across studies, especially in the definitions of imaging markers and study outcomes used. Due to the poor methodological quality of many studies and unavailability of effect sizes or crude data to calculate effect sizes, a formal meta-analysis was not possible.

Conclusions: We only identified A1 segment asymmetry as an imaging marker of Acom aneurysm development with converging evidence. A meta-analysis was not possible due to the heterogeneity of marker definitions and outcomes used, and poor methodological quality of many studies. Future studies should use robust study designs and uniformly defined imaging markers and outcome measures.

Keywords: Imaging marker; Intracranial aneurysm; Neuroimaging; Subarachnoid hemorrhage.