Our purpose was to evaluate the surgical and endovascular treatment outcomes of ruptured intracranial vertebral artery aneurysms (RIVAA). The outcomes of 44 patients with RIVAA treated between 1983 and 1998 surgically (26), endovascularly (20) or both (2) were evaluated. The aneurysms were clipped in 24 patients, and clipped and wrapped in two. We treated 20 by the endovascular approach, 12 with Guglielmi detachable coils (GDC), and eight by parent-vessel occlusion using detachable balloons. Three patients had endovascular treatment after a failed or inadequate surgical attempt. Posttreatment follow-up was 17-183 months (mean 101 months) for surgically treated patients. For the GDC-treated group angiographic follow-up was carried at 8-49 months (mean 19 months). The condition of seven (27 %) of the surgically treated patients worsened due to procedure-related complications, compared with 10% in the endovascular treatment group. Of the patients initially presenting with Hunt and Hess grade IV or V, three of five (60%) died who were treated surgically and two of eight (25%) who were treated endovascularly. A good outcome was achieved in 17 surgically treated patients (85% of the survivors) and in 16 of the endovascular group (89% of the survivors). This present "same-site" report on treatment of a specific abnormality, RIVAA, treated surgically or by an endovascular approach indicates that especially in poorer Hunt and Hess grade patients, the latter may offer a clinical outcome as good as that of surgery, although long-term efficacy of GDC treatment is still to be determined.