[Endovascular treatment for basilar tip aneurysms].

The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of endovascular treatment of basilar (BA) tip aneurysms. The authors performed a retrospective analysis of 79 aneurysms of the BA tip that had been treated using endovascular coil embolization for the last 11 years. Fifty-six patients were women, and 23 were men. The average age of the patients was 63.7 years (range, 35-83 year). The average maximum diameter of the aneurysms was 8.0 mm (range, 2-30 mm). Forty-seven patients (60%) presented with acute subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), 1 patient (1%) had an unruptured aneurysm with mass effect, and 31 patients (39%) had incidental aneurysms. Immediate anatomic outcomes demonstrated complete occlusion (CO) in 53 aneurysms (67%), residual neck (RN) in 22 aneurysms (28%), and residual aneurysm (RA) in 4 aneurysms (5%). One patient died from rebleeding 6 hours after the embolization. Another patient suffered from rebleeding 6 years after the initial embolization, and was successfully treated with re-embolization. Four patients suffered from asymptomatic P1 occlusion. No symptomatic complication was observed in the unruptured group. Retreatment was performed in 5 patients, including 4 broad-neck large ruptured aneurysms and 1 giant thrombosed aneurysm. Angiographic and clinical results have been improving in recent cases in this study. Technical advances such as highly compliant balloon remodeling microcatheter and 3D-reconstructed digital angiography contributed to this improvement. Our results indicate that endovascular treatment of BA tip aneurysm is safe and effective. The long-term stability after coil embolization is still a matter of concern. Further improvement is expected.