Comparative assessment of woven endobridge embolization and standard coil occlusion for the treatment of ruptured basilar tip aneurysms

Purpose: Endovascular coil occlusion represents the standard treatment for basilar tip aneurysms. Recently, this role has been rivalled by intrasaccular flow disruptors across numerous centres. We retrospectively compared WEB embolization and coiling for the treatment of ruptured basilar tip aneurysms.

Methods: Patients treated with WEB or coiling at four neurovascular centres were reviewed. Procedure-related complications, clinical outcome, and angiographic results were retrospectively compared.

Results: The study included 23 patients treated with the WEB (aneurysm size: 6.6 ± 1.9 mm) and 56 by coiling (aneurysm size: 6.7 ± 2.5 mm). Stent-assistance was more often necessary with coiling than with WEB embolization (32% vs. 4%, p = 0.009). A modified Rankin scale score ≤ 2 at discharge had 21 (37.5%) patients in the coiling group and 12 (52.2%) in the WEB group (p = 0.235). Immediate complete and adequate occlusion rates were 52% for the WEB and 87% for coiling. At short-term follow-up, these rates were 87% for the WEB and 72% for coiling, respectively. There was no delayed aneurysm re-bleeding during follow-up.

Conclusion: Both coiling and WEB seem to prevent rebleeding in ruptured BTA aneurysms. WEB embolization required less frequently stent-support than coiling, potentially advantageous for SAH patients to avoid anti-platelet therapy in the light of concomitant procedures like ventricular drainage.