Virtues and drawbacks of titanium alloy aneurysm clips

This report describes the imaging characteristics of titanium alloy aneurysm clips and our clinical experience with these clips in more than 300 patients. Phantom and clinical investigations showed that clip artifacts on CT and MR are minor as compared to the cobalt alloy clips used previously. Spiral CT angiography (CTA) in combination with titanium alloy clips could be shown to be a feasible mode of postoperative control and can be used to determine completeness of aneurysm elimination, patency of adjacent arteries as well as vasospasm. In contrast, magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) proved to be unfeasible as a method of postoperative vascular imaging since the titanium clips still produce a shadow in the order of size of the entire aneurysm. Therefore, completeness of aneurysm elimination cannot be judged on magnetic resonance angiography. The clinical experience in more than 300 cases showed that the titanium alloy clips essentially performed well. However, the limits of elastic deformation appear to be somewhat inferior to cobalt alloy clips. The standard appliers do not open the blades of the titanium clips quite as far as with the comparable cobalt alloy clips and the corresponding appliers. Therefore the titanium aneurysm clips are not quite as well suited for large broad based aneurysms. Furthermore, the increased susceptibility of the new clips with regard to abuse suggests to follow the recommendations of the manufacturer not to recycle and re-sterilize clips that have been tried but not permanently implanted.