We present 6 cases with dissecting aneurysm of the intracranial vertebral artery who developed subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH). The following procedures were performed in this series; trapping of the involved artery in 2, proximal occlusion of the vertebral artery with detachable balloon in 2, and proximal clipping of the vertebral artery in 2. Proximal occlusion of the vertebral artery in 4 and trapping of the vertebral artery in one gave excellent results. We believe the treatment of choice is proximal occlusion of the vertebral artery, either by open surgery or by interventional neuroradiological procedures.

Microsurgical decompression of the optic nerve was performed in 22 patients with traumatic optic nerve injury through a transfrontal intradural approach. When significant improvement is defined as an improvement of the visual acuity of 0.1 or more, 11 patients (50%) showed significant improvement and 7 patients (32%) showed non-significant improvement. Four patients who had been blind preoperatively, did not show any improvement. In cases with a preoperative visual acuity of 0.01 or more, significant improvement was obtained in 80% of the patients, and when the preoperative visual acuity was not nill but less than 0.01, 38% of patients showed significant improvement. We conclude that a transfrontal intradural microsurgical decompression is indicated, when the preoperative visual acuity is 0.01 or more and the time lag is less than 14 days after the injury.

A 71-year-old woman with a symptomatic Rathke's cleft cyst is reported. Our patient is unique in that both metrizamide computed tomographic cisternography and a transsphenoidal surgery were safe and successful procedures in spite of the advanced age of the patient.