Coated Brain Aneurysm Coiling Devices Found Less Effective

A new study of patients suffering from a ruptured brain aneurysm has found that expensive new coiling devices are no more effective than bare platinum coils at preventing aneurysms from recurring.

Researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC, OH, USA) and University Hospital (Cincinnati, OH, USA), conducted a retrospective analysis of 100 patients suffering from a ruptured brain aneurysm and evaluated the risk of intracranial aneurysm recurrence after endovascular treatment with each of three different kinds of coils. To determine whether the new strategies indicated an improvement, the research team analyzed the outcomes during a 3 ½-year period of successively treated patients who had suffered ruptured aneurysms of medium size (five to 15 millimeters in diameter).

The study found that at the end of one year, the bare platinum coils were associated with the least number of repeated treatments. The percentage requiring repeated treatment was 6.4% in the platinum coils group, 11.5% in the expanding gel-coating group, and 20.9% in the polymer-coating group. The findings were presented at the International Stroke Conference held during February 2008 in New Orleans (LA, USA).

"The purpose of our study was to assess the effectiveness of these new treatments,” said lead author Andrew Ringer, M.D., director of endovascular neurosurgery and associate professor of neurosurgery at UC. "We found that neither of these newer, and more costly coils performed any better than the bare platinum coils. The results suggest the possibility that a factor, or factors, other than coil-surface coating may be responsible for reducing aneurysm recurrence.”

Coils may occasionally compact within the aneurysm, causing blood to flow back into the aneurysm, making repeated treatment necessary. To address this issue, polymer coated coils are designed to promote tissue healing at the neck of the aneurysm, while gel coated coils are designed to expand inside the aneurysm when exposed to blood, filling all the nooks and crannies.


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