Endovascular treatment of recurrent coiled aneurysms: assessment of complications and rebleeding during a decade in a single center

Abstract

Recurrence is the main drawback of aneurysmal coiling. Additional coiling must sometimes be considered in patients with reopened aneurysms and expose the patient to the risk of a new procedure. Our purpose was to assess the procedural complications of additional endovascular treatments in patients with previously coiled but recurrent aneurysms treated by two neurointerventionalists during a decade in a single center. Between 1999 and 2009, 637 intracranial aneurysms were coiled and had a clinical and angiographic follow-up at our institution. Following the first embolization, 44 aneurysms were retreated with coils and 11 were retreated a second time. Retreatment was decided when a recurrence showed at angiographic follow-up. Early retreatments, performed in the first month after an incomplete or failed initial coiling, were excluded. We retrospectively analysed the procedural complications, rebleeding, clinical and angiographic outcomes of the retreatments. No death or bleeding occurred in these 55 additional procedures. We had three periprocedural thromboembolic complications and the procedural permanent morbidity was 1.8%. Clinical and angiographic follow-ups ranged from six months to nine years (mean: 37 months, median: 36 months). Thirty-seven of the 44 retreated aneurysms (84%) showed a stable occlusion at follow-up. Seven showed a recurrence but were not retreated due to the stability of the packing. No rebleeding was observed during the follow-up period. Our results show that endovascular treatment of recurrent aneurysms is associated with a low procedural risk.