Occipital Artery–Posterior Inferior Cerebellar Artery Bypass Surgery

Abstract

An occipital artery–posterior inferior cerebellar artery (OA–PICA) anastomosis is performed when PICA is sacrificed during the treatment of poor posterior circulation. Ausman et al. [1] performed the first intracranial posterior circulation revascularization procedure for vertebrobasilar insufficiency in the form of an OA–PICA anastomosis in 1976. Sundt and Piepgras [12] and Khodadad [5] reported additional experiences of this procedure. Since then, OA–PICA anastomosis has been important for cerebral revascularization in the posterior circulation [2, 6, 10, 11]. Although the benefits of intracranial OA–PICA bypass surgery for vertebrobasilar insufficiency caused by atherosclerotic disease of the extracranial or intracranial vertebral artery (VA) remain unclear, cerebral revascularization of the posterior circulation is well established for the treatment of complex and giant intracranial aneurysms and tumors, especially when these lesions involve the major vessels of the posterior circulation.