Endovascular treatment of internal carotid and vertebral artery aneurysms using a novel pericardium covered stent.

Intracranial aneurysm is a fairly common (often asymptomatic) condition. Subarachnoid hemorrhage associated with aneurysmal rupture is a potentially lethal event with a mortality rate as high as 50 percent and a high rate of disability among those who survive the initial hemorrhage, such that recently published guidelines support treatment of intracerebral aneurysms. The current treatment options include surgical clipping and endovascular treatment, but these are not without significant problems. Despite the trend toward endovascular treatment the rate of recurrence and complications is high. Current published evidence of the use of covered stent is limited to stents covered with polytetrafluoroethylene. It is now recognized that mammalian extracellular matrix represents an excellent scaffold material suitable for many therapeutic applications and glutaraldehyde treated pericardium has been widely used for many years due to its desirable features such as low immunogenicity and durability. This report describes the first published experience with the Aneugraft Pericardium Covered Stent (ITGI Medical, OR Akiva, Israel) in the treatment of internal carotid and vertebral artery aneurysms in three patients. In all three cases, the implantation of this novel device has resulted in successful closure of aneurysms.