TransForm occlusion balloon catheter for the treatment of intracranial aneurysms, initial experience

The technique of balloon remodeling allows the endovascular treatment of wide-neck intracranial aneurysms. For many years the only available devices were the Hyperform and the Hyperglide balloon catheters. Recently, other companies have developed newer devices, single or dual-lumen. We present our initial experience with the TransForm occlusion balloon catheter for the treatment of intracranial aneurysms.

We retrospectively analysed from our prospectively gathered aneurysm database all aneurysms that were treated with balloon remodelling using TransForm occlusion balloon catheters from January 2013 to February 2014. We assessed patient demographics, morphological features of the aneurysms, procedure feasibility, technical and clinical complications.

Thirty-three patients harbouring 36 intracranial saccular aneurysms were treated during 33 procedures. Clinical finding were: 15 incidental discovery, 13 subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH), five aneurysms with mass effect, one ruptured aneurysm with SAH and mass effect, one recanalisation and one intraparenchymal haematoma. Thirty-five aneurysms were in the anterior and one in the posterior circulation. Mean dome and neck size were, respectively, 5.8 mm and 3.6 mm. Twenty-three aneurysms were treated with TransForm C and 13 with TransForm SC. We had two procedural thromboembolic complications, without permanent clinical events. No early rebleeding occurred.

In our small series, the TransForm occlusion balloon catheter seems to be safe and effective for the treatment of intracranial aneurysms, in ruptured and unruptured cases.