Endovascular Treatment of Intracranial Kissing Aneurysms: Technical Feasibility and Clinical Outcomes

Kissing aneurysms are situated on the same artery but have separate points of origin. Open surgical strategies for access from opposing directions may be technically problematic. Recent advances in protective devices and coiling techniques have compelled the present study, aimed at technical aspects and procedural outcomes of coil embolization in this setting.

Data prospectively accruing between May 2001 and May 2020 were systematically reviewed, assessing clinical and morphologic outcomes of coil embolization in 36 patients with 72 kissing aneurysms.

Lesions most often involved paraclinoid internal carotid artery (n = 22), followed by anterior communicating artery (n = 7). Single-stage coil embolization of both aneurysms took place in nearly all patients (n = 35). Microcatheter tips for selecting paired aneurysms were usually directed opposite to one another (32 of 36, 88.9%), applying protective devices (i.e., balloons or stents) to 1 or both aneurysms in 21 patients (58.3%). Balloons were placed in 9 patients, often when treating first aneurysms and largely for second aneurysms as well (7 of 9, 77.8%). Stents deployed in 14 patients involved first and second aneurysms equally. Two patients required balloon of stent combinations. No procedure-related morbidity or mortality resulted. In follow-up of 68 aneurysms (mean: 40.2 ± 28.1 months) after coiling, 86.8% (59 of 68) showed sustained complete saccular occlusion.

Strategies for endovascular treatment of kissing aneurysms rely heavily on characteristics that the paired aneurysms display. Properly conducted single-stage coil embolization is a safe and effective method of treating such lesions.