Effectiveness of platinum wire microcoils for venous occlusion: a study on patients treated for venogenic impotence

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of venous occlusions achieved by embolization with platinum microwire coils. Follow-up venographies in 19 patients, 1-20 months (average 8 months) after coil embolizations, were evaluated. Twenty-eight of 126 (22.2%) coil embolizations were found to be patent. Coils which had not formed or partially formed upon embolization had a patency/recanalization rate of 37.5% (12/32). Among coils which had formed nearly completely or completely only 16 of 95 (17%) showed venous patency. As coil embolization had been augmented by sclerotherapy in all patients, the effectiveness of long-term venous occlusion by platinum wire coils alone is probably lower than our figures indicate. We conclude that attention to complete or near-complete coil formation upon embolization appears to be critical to maximize long-term occlusive effects of platinum microcoils. Their effectiveness in general, however, is lower than anticipated.