Endovascular treatment of ruptured tiny aneurysms

Endovascular coiling of ruptured tiny aneurysms (RTAs) in the brain has been known to be technically challenging owing to the higher rate of adverse events, such as thromboembolism and intraoperative rupture. The aim of this study was to report our ex-periences of endovascular treatment of RTAs (size, ≤3 mm).

From January 2006 to December 2017, 35 RTAs in 35 patients were treated at our institution with an endosaccular coiling. Procedural data and clinical and angiographic results were retrospectively reviewed.

The mean size of the RTAs was 2.53 mm (SD: 0.38). The neck remodeling technique was applied to 14 aneurysms, including stent-assisted coiling (n=7) and balloon-assisted coiling (n=7). Procedure-related complications included intraprocedural rupture (n=2), thromboembolic event (n=1), and early rebleeding (n=2), which needed recoiling. Regarding immediate angiographic control, complete occlusion was achieved in 25 aneurysms (71.4%), small neck remnant in 5 (14.3%), and definite remnant in 5 (14.3%). At the end of follow-up, 31 of the 35 patients (88.6%) were able to function independently. Twenty-two of the 35 patients underwent follow-up conventional angiography (mean, 468 days). Stable occlusion was achieved in 20 of the 22 patients (90.9%), minor recanalization in 1 (4.5%), and major recanalization, which required recoiling, in 1 (4.5%).

Our experiences demonstrate that endovascular treatment for RTAs is both feasible and effective. However, periprocedural rebleedings were found to occur more often (11.4%) than what is generally suspected.