Screening Intracranial Aneurysms With Magnetic Resonance Angiography (MRA) in China

Cerebral intracranial aneurysms are common. In angiographic and autopsy studies, estimates for prevalence vary between 0.2 and 9.9 percent. The methods used to detect the aneurysms markedly influenced the proportion of aneurysms. Retrospective autopsy studies probably give an underestimation and prospective angiography studies an overestimation of the actual prevalence. Accurate data on the prevalence of intracranial aneurysms are essential in evaluating the results of screening programs for aneurysms in general population.

During the past decade, MRA, as a preferred accuracy modality for noninvasive intracranial vascular imaging at most centers, is playing an increasing role in the evaluation of patients suspected of having intracranial aneurysms. In recurrent study, we have tested that MRA at 3T has excellent sensitivity, accuracy, and correlation with DSA and is comparable to catheter cerebral angiography for the evaluation of patients with intracranial aneurysms (Stroke, in press). Therefore, we examined trends in intracranial aneurysm prevalence with the use of MRA at 3.0T to determine the true prevalence of cerebral intracranial aneurysms in the general middle-aged or elder population.