Stents for intracranial wide-necked aneurysms: more than mechanical protection.

Treatment of wide-necked aneurysms by endovascular coil embolization usually requires mechanical aids in order to protect the parent artery from occlusion due to extension of coils or thrombosis. Endovascular stents are one tool that can be deployed to solve this essentially mechanical problem. The effect of a stent placed in the situation may also act as a hemodynamically active flow diverter. Endovascular stents used in other circumstances are prone to the unwanted side effect of neoinitmal proliferation, but this phenomenon should be seen as a potential asset for "aneurysmal stents" because it may lead to a reaction that contributes to vessel wall healing.