I had a good appointment with the neurosurgeon today. He says that even though the annie is larger than we thought (8.1 mm), it’s still officially small and not likely to rupture (less than .5% per year). He wants me to have a CT angiogram in a year to make sure it’s not growing.
He says it is located within the cavernous sinus, which means it is protected by bone. That makes it less likely to rupture, but also more difficult to repair through open surgery, since you have to actually remove the bone to get at it.
Because the ophthalmic artery is at the base of it, it can’t be coiled in an endovascular procedure. My neuro-opthalmalogist was of the opinion that it couldn’t be clipped without killing the eye, but the surgeon says it is possible, just a 5% chance of that happening. BUT, the PED will likely be approved in the next few years for the ophthalmic ones, and we can treat it endovascularly once that happens, if it seems necessary.
Both he and the ophth are certain the annie has nothing to do with my eye pain, so I’ll still need to try to find a medicine that will work on it, or some other cause or treatment. Since the annie isn’t involved, that is further reason not to treat it.
Have you thought about a 2nd opinion? Also, what are the Doctors doing to help you with "no rupture"? For example...I have one coiled and one they are watching (very small 2mm)...on meds from high bp...no smoking or excessive drinking...watching stress levels...etc., Just wondering...
I hope you can get to the bottom of your eye pain...Gotcha in my Thoughts ~ Colleen
No, since the neurosurgeon is the third doctor to tell me that asymptomatic sub-centimer annies have a very small chance of rupture. He was a part of the ISUIA study that everybody quotes. It's probably already been there at least 10 years.
I take blood pressure meds and antidepressants, never smoked, no longer drink, and until I went on the self-pity diet, weight watchers was working well for me. I limit myself to one cup of coffee a day because of my bladder spasticity. The neurosurgeon is the head of the department at a teaching hospital, and I trust him completely.
Hello! I was reading this, this is the same exact place that my Annie was at. I did not have pain in my left eye, just double vision. My PED was implanted on Jan.4,2012. Annie would not go down nor did she get any larger, so on June 8 I went back in and had 2 stents put in. With in ten days Annie is gone. My Annie was approximately 2". The Pipeline Embolization Device was ok'd a little over year ago, at least at Kansas University Medical. I was the first one to have it done in the Kansas City MO./KS area. What hospital are you going to have your procedure done? Marje
I had a cavernous carotid aneurysm, though bigger than yours at about 3 cm. I had eye pain. I also had double vision. Pain became worse post endovascular procedure and is due to trigeminal nerve irritation. It is eased by medication (amitriptyline) for nerve pain. I hope you find something to help your pain.