Transradial Access for Newly Food and Drug Administration-Approved Devices for Endovascular Treatment of Cerebral Aneurysms: A Technical Note

Background: Despite the recent increase of transradial access among neurointerventionalists, there is still a paucity of evidence in the neurosurgical literature. There are 3 newly Food and Drug Administration-approved devices-Woven EndoBridge (WEB), Surpass, and PulseRider-that significantly expand the options available for endovascular treatment of cerebral aneurysms. Our work reports the safety and feasibility of radial artery catheterization for the deployment of these new devices.

Methods: We performed a review of the first 10 patients with an unruptured cerebral aneurysm treated via a transradial cerebral angiogram. Seven patients underwent embolization with the WEB device, 1 patient underwent embolization with the PulseRider, and 2 patients underwent embolization with the Surpass device. We describe in detail our workflow and the devices used for transradial access.

Results: The aneurysms treated include internal carotid artery bifurcation, middle cerebral artery, anterior communicating artery, basilar tip, and posterior communicating artery. All patients underwent radial artery catheterization, and none of them had to be converted to femoral artery access. Of the 10 patients, 9 required a single attempt for accurate device deployment. One patient had unsuccessful placement of the WEB device and required coiling of the aneurysm because of device herniation into the parent vessel. None of the patients had any postoperative complications and were discharged the following day with the same modified Rankin scale score as preoperatively.

Conclusions: Our experience with 10 patients revealed no limitations during catheterization and deployment of these devices. One patient had to be converted to coil embolization, which was feasible through the same vascular access. None of the patients had vascular complications postoperatively with minimal wrist discomfort.