Background: Wide-necked aneurysms remain challenging for both coiling and microsurgical clipping. They often require additional techniques to prevent coil prolapse into the parent artery, such as balloon- and stent-assisted coiling. Comaneci is an expandable and removable stent that acts as a bridging device and does not interfere with the blood flow of the parent artery.
Methods: We retrospectively reviewed our institutional radiological and clinical chart of patients treated for saccular intracranial aneurysm via endovascular Comaneci-assisted coiling. The aim of the study was to report our preliminary experience in Comaneci-assisted coiling of wide-necked intracranial aneurysms.
Results: We included 14 patients in the study. Of these, 11 had a ruptured intracranial aneurysm and were treated with Comaneci-assisted coiling. We registered five minor intraprocedural complications and two intraprocedural failures of the device. At one-year follow-up, a satisfying aneurysm occlusion was observed in 85% of the cases.
Conclusions: Though long-term follow-up data and larger case series are needed, this preliminary study showed the feasibility of the Comaneci-assisted coiling method for both ruptured and unruptured wide-neck intracranial aneurysms, with similar occlusion rates as balloon-assisted coiling. However, we registered high incidence of thromboembolic complications; these were probably related to the lack of heparin administration. The main advantageous application of this technique is likely in cases of ruptured intracranial aneurysms, as there is no need for post-procedural antiplatelet therapy.
Keywords: Comaneci; assisted coiling; embolization; intracranial aneurysm.