Is flow diversion the death of cerebral bypass and coiling/stent-assisted coiling for giant cavernous aneurysms? A critical review on comparative outcomes and ongoing clinical trials.

The classic surgical treatment for symptomatic giant aneurysms originating from the cavernous segment of the carotid artery has been either microsurgical direct clip-reconstruction or carotid occlusion followed by additional cerebral bypass for those patients who fail in a balloon test occlusion. Nevertheless the emergence of new endovascular techniques, especially flow-diverting devices, has promised to revolutionize the treatment of giant cavernous aneurysms, possibly avoiding major microsurgical operations. In this review the authors summarize the current "state-of-art" of treatment of giant cavernous aneurysms, comparing the overall outcomes, complications, morbidity and mortality rates of new flow-diverting devices in relation to traditional microsurgical series.