To the Editor.鈥�听
Dr Acosta-Rua's article on familial intracranial aneurysms (Archives 35:675-677, 1978) indicates the value of family history in the assessment of intracranial aneurysms.1-4 Several points may be made.The prevalence of hypertension in cases of familial aneurysm is not known. The notion that long-standing hypertension is present in the majority of patients with aneurysm seems to be unsupported.5Although the mean age of Acosta-Rua's patients was 48 years, the mean age of patients with familial aneurysm is probably ten to 15 years less than that of nonfamilial patients (mean age of 39 years, compared with 52 years for patients with aneurysm in general).3,4,6Regarding location, two earlier reviews of familial aneurysms2,4 have shown anterior communicating artery aneurysms to occur approximately half as frequently in familial cases as in cases of aneurysm in general (15% vs 30%). In siblings, identical-site aneurysms (eg, left internal carotid鈥�