Current trends and results of endovascular treatment of unruptured intracranial aneurysms at a single institution in the flow-diverter era

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: During the past several years, the number of unruptured aneurysms treated with endovascular techniques has increased. Traditionally, coil embolization was the treatment of choice for these lesions; however, recently flow diversion has become a viable, and in some cases superior, treatment option. The current single-center study presents results and trends of endovascular treatment with flow diversion and coil embolization in an unselected group of patients with unruptured intracranial aneurysms in a "real world" setting during the flow-diverter era. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three hundred ten patients with 318 treated unruptured aneurysms from June 2009 to May 2015 were included. Patient demographics, clinical characteristics, aneurysm/treatment characteristics, and outcomes were collected prospectively. We studied the following: intensive care unit admission/reasons, perioperative and mid-/long-term complications, target aneurysm rupture, retreatment/recurrence rates, and long-term neurologic outcome using the mRS. RESULTS: The flow-diverter group had a larger mean aneurysm size (12.3 ± 8.6 mm versus 8.7 ± 6.3 mm, P