Factors affecting formation and rupture of intracranial saccular aneurysms

Unruptured intracranial aneurysms represent a decisional challenge. Treatment risks have to be balanced against an unknown probability of rupture. A better understanding of the physiopathology is the basis for a better prediction of the natural history of an individual patient. Knowledge about the possible determining factors arises from a careful comparison between ruptured versus unruptured aneurysms and from the prospective observation and analysis of unbiased series with untreated, unruptured aneurysms. The key point is the correct identification of the determining variables for the fate of a specific aneurysm in a given individual. Thus, the increased knowledge of mechanisms of formation and eventual rupture of aneurysms should provide significant clues to the identification of rupture-prone aneurysms. Factors like structural vessel wall defects, local hemodynamic stress determined also by peculiar geometric configurations, and inflammation as trigger of a wall remodeling are crucial. In this sense the study of genetic modifiers of inflammatory responses together with the computational study of the vessel tree might contribute to identify aneurysms prone to rupture. The aim of this article is to underline the value of a unifying hypothesis that merges the role of geometry, with that of hemodynamics and of genetics as concerns vessel wall structure and inflammatory pathways.