Endovascular occlusion of intracranial vessels for curative treatment of unclippable aneurysms: report of 16 cases.

Among 121 intracerebral aneurysms presenting at one institution between 1984 and 1989, 16 were treated by endovascular means. All 16 lesions were intradural and intracranial, and had failed either surgical or endovascular attempts at selective exclusion with parent vessel preservation. The lesions included four giant middle cerebral artery (MCA) aneurysms, one giant anterior communicating artery aneurysm, six giant posterior cerebral artery aneurysms, one posterior inferior cerebellar artery aneurysm, one giant mid-basilar artery aneurysm, two giant fusiform basilar artery aneurysms, and one dissecting vertebral artery aneurysm. One of the 16 patients failed an MCA test occlusion and was approached surgically after attempted endovascular selective occlusion. Treatment involved pretreatment evaluation of cerebral blood flow followed by a preliminary parent vessel test occlusion under neuroleptic analgesia with vigilant neurological monitoring. If the test occlusion was tolerated, it was immediately followed by permanent occlusion of the parent vessel with either detachable or nondetachable balloon or coils. The follow-up period ranged from 1 to 8 years. Excellent outcomes were obtained in 12 cases with complete angiographic obliteration of the aneurysm and no new neurological deficits and/or improvement of the preembolization symptoms. Four patients died: two related to the procedure, one secondary to rupture of another untreated aneurysm, and the fourth from a postoperative MCA thrombosis after having failed endovascular test occlusion. The angiographic, clinical, and cerebral blood flow criteria for occlusion tolerance are discussed.