LAUSR

OBJECTIVE Keyhole craniotomy is a minimally invasive approach for the treatment of middle cerebral artery (MCA) aneurysms. The aim of this study was to compare the clinical outcome between supraorbital keyhole approach and pterional keyhole approach (PKA) in Chinese patients with MCA aneurysm. METHODS Consecutive patients with MCA aneurysms were reviewed between January 2013 and December 2017. Efficacy and safety between PKA and supraorbital keyhole approach were compared. Poor outcome was defined as modified Rankin Scale score of 3-6 at discharge. RESULTS This study enrolled 260 patients; 222 (85.4%) had ruptured aneurysm, and 183 (70.4%) received PKA. The distribution of PKA in unruptured and ruptured aneurysms showed no significant difference (P > 0.05). In subgroup analyses, PKA was more likely associated with poor outcome at discharge in patients with unruptured aneurysms (odds ratio = 5.500, 95% confidence interval = 1.013-29.850, P = 0.048), whereas approach selection was not an independent factor predicting poor outcome in patients with ruptured aneurysms (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS In a Chinese population, supraorbital keyhole approach was superior to PKA in improving outcome in patients with unruptured MCA aneurysms, but the 2 approaches showed comparable outcomes at discharge in patients with ruptured aneurysms.