Endovascular management of intracerebral and subarachnoid hemorrhage

Significant advances in neuroendovascular devices and techniques are changing the approach to the management of acute hemorrhagic stroke. Greater numbers of aneurysms can now be treated using a wide array of platinum coils. Intracranial stents and balloon remodeling have made possible the treatment of wide-necked aneurysms. Microcatheters have been developed with better tractability to traverse tortuous vessels and access vascular lesions. With more than an estimated 100,000 patients with aneurysms treated worldwide, coil embolization has an excellent safety profile and level of outcome, with similar or better results compared with surgical clipping in select patient populations. Arteriovenous malformations and fistulae may also benefit from endovascular treatment by embolization using n-butyl cyanoacrylate or coils. In this article, we describe the endovascular role for the most common causes of intracerebral and subarachnoid hemorrhages, with special attention toward ruptured aneurysms and vascular malformations.