Background: The prevalence of intracranial aneurysm (IA)
is higher in patients with abdominal and thoracic aortic aneurysm,
however the prevalence of thoracic aortic aneurysms (TAA) is unclear in a
patients with intracranial aneurysms.

Methods: Out of 1778
patients with ruptured or unruptured IAs diagnosed in the department of
neurosurgery of a tertiary hospital between 2006 and 2016, 519 patients
with imaging studies of the thoracic aorta (CT, CT-angiography, MRA and
MRI, catheter angiography) were identified and reviewed. Dilatation of
the aorta was defined as +2SD of the normative values from a previous
study by the American College of Radiology.

Results: There
were 491 patients with saccular and 28 with fuciform IAs.The prevalence
of aortic dilatations was 16.7% and 7.5% for aneurysms (>40mm)
without significant differences between patients with subarachnoid
hemorrhage or unruptured intracranial aneurysms (p=0.19). The prevalence
of TAAs was 33% in patients with fuciform aneurysms. The aortic arch
was the most common location for dilatation (prevalence 82.8%). Higher
age (OR 1.05, p=0.001), rheumatoid disease (OR 3.00, p=0.008) and
alcohol abuse (OR 3.69, p=0.007) were independent predictors of aortic
dilatation on multivariable regression.

Conclusion: The
prevalence of aortic dilatations and aneurysms is markedly higher in
patients with intracranial aneurysms compared to the general population
suggesting a similar shared background for pathogenesis for both types
of aneurysms. Patients with intracranial aneurysms and rheumatoid
disease and/or alcohol overuse should be considered for screening of
thoracic aortic dilatations and aneurysms.