Endovascular treatment of a fusiform cerebral aneurysm by stenting alone. Two case reports and literature review.

This paper illustrates two cases of stent-in-stenting treatment of unruptured, symptomatic, fusiform intracerebral aneurysms. Two unruptured symptomatic fusiform intracerebral aneurysms were treated by the stent-in-stent only technique. The first patient, a 35-year-old woman, had a partially thrombosed fusiform aneurysm in the left carotid siphon with the chief complaint of headache and left ophthalmoplegia. The second patient, a 60-year-old man, had a symptomatic fusiform aneurysm of the left V4 with recurrent transient ischemic attacks. No cervical trauma or infection was present in either patient. A CT, CTA and DSA were performed on hospital admission. Both patients were previously premedicated with Clopidrogel + ASA for five days before treatment. By DSA, both patients were treated under general anesthesia with a heparin protocol plus ASA (500mg) at stent placement. A double stent-in stent was placed in both patients. Post-intervention medical therapy was clopridogel and ASA for three months, then aspirin (100mg) daily for six months. CTA and DSA were performed at six and 12 months. Both stents were positioned without any difficulty and could be navigated within cerebral arteries without any exchange procedure, and thanks to their retractability, they were accurately positioned. No bleeding at post-treatment CT was noted. At 12 months follow-up, a complete disappearance of the aneurysm and preservation of the parent vessel was observed for both patients. No procedure-related complication occurred. No intra-stent stenosis or intimal hyperplasia was observed. Stenting for fusiform aneurysms is a safe procedure without complications. Medical therapy pre-post procedure associated with follow-up is necessary to prevent/establish the incidence of occlusion.