A Pragmatic Randomized Trial Comparing Surgical Clipping and Endovascular Treatment of Unruptured Intracranial Aneurysms.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Surgical clipping and endovascular treatment are commonly used in patients with unruptured intracranial aneurysms. We compared the safety and efficacy of the 2 treatments in a randomized trial. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Clipping or endovascular treatments were randomly allocated to patients with one or more 3- to 25-mm unruptured intracranial aneurysms judged treatable both ways by participating physicians. The study hypothesized that clipping would decrease the incidence of treatment failure from 13% to 4%, a composite primary outcome defined as failure of aneurysm occlusion, intracranial hemorrhage during follow-up, or residual aneurysms at 1 year, as adjudicated by a core lab. Safety outcomes included new neurologic deficits following treatment, hospitalization of >5 days, and overall morbidity and mortality (mRS > 2) at 1 year. There was no blinding. RESULTS: Two hundred ninety-one patients were enrolled from 2010 to 2020 in 7 centers. The 1-year primary outcome, ascertainable in 290/291 (99%) patients, was reached in 13/142 (9%; 95% CI, 5%-15%) patients allocated to surgery and in 28/148 (19%; 95% CI, 13%-26%) patients allocated to endovascular treatments (relative risk: 2.07; 95% CI, 1.12-3.83; P = .021). Morbidity and mortality (mRS >2) at 1 year occurred in 3/143 and 3/148 (2%; 95% CI, 1%-6%) patients allocated to surgery and endovascular treatments, respectively. Neurologic deficits (32/143, 22%; 95% CI, 16%-30% versus 19/148, 12%; 95% CI, 8%-19%; relative risk: 1.74; 95% CI, 1.04-2.92; P = .04) and hospitalizations beyond 5 days (69/143, 48%; 95% CI, 40%-56% versus 12/148, 8%; 95% CI, 5%-14%; relative risk: 0.18; 95% CI, 0.11-0.31; P < .001) were more frequent after surgery. CONCLUSIONS: Surgical clipping is more effective than endovascular treatment of unruptured intracranial aneurysms in terms of the frequency of the primary outcome of treatment failure. Results were mainly driven by angiographic results at 1 year.

Reliability of the Diagnosis of Cerebral Vasospasm Using Catheter Cerebral Angiography: A Systematic Review and Inter- and Intraobserver Study.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Conventional angiography is the benchmark examination to diagnose cerebral vasospasm, but there is limited evidence regarding its reliability. Our goals were the following: 1) to systematically review the literature on the reliability of the diagnosis of cerebral vasospasm using conventional angiography, and 2) to perform an agreement study among clinicians who perform endovascular treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Articles reporting a classification system on the degree of cerebral vasospasm on conventional angiography were systematically searched, and agreement studies were identified. We assembled a portfolio of 221 cases of patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage and asked 17 raters with different backgrounds (radiology, neurosurgery, or neurology) and experience (junior ≤10 and senior >10 years) to independently evaluate cerebral vasospasm in 7 vessel segments using a 3-point scale and to evaluate, for each case, whether findings would justify endovascular treatment. Nine raters took part in the intraobserver reliability study. RESULTS: The systematic review showed a very heterogeneous literature, with 140 studies using 60 different nomenclatures and 21 different thresholds to define cerebral vasospasm, and 5 interobserver studies reporting a wide range of reliability (κ = 0.14-0.87). In our study, only senior raters reached substantial agreement (κ ≥ 0.6) on vasospasm of the supraclinoid ICA, M1, and basilar segments and only when assessments were dichotomized (presence or absence of ≥50% narrowing). Agreement on whether to proceed with endovascular management of vasospasm was only fair (κ ≤ 0.4). CONCLUSIONS: Research on cerebral vasospasm would benefit from standardization of definitions and thresholds. Dichotomized decisions by experienced readers are required for the reliable angiographic diagnosis of cerebral vasospasm.

A randomized trial of endovascular versus surgical management of ruptured intracranial aneurysms: Interim results from ISAT2.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Appropriate management of ruptured intracranial aneurysm (RIA) in patients eligible for surgical clipping but under-represented in or excluded from previous randomized trials remains undetermined. METHODS: The International Subarachnoid Aneurysm Trial-2 (ISAT-2) is a randomized care trial comparing surgical versus endovascular treatment (EVT) of RIA. All patients considered for surgical clipping but eligible for endovascular treatment can be included. The primary endpoint is death or dependency on modified Rankin score (mRS>2) at 1 year. Secondary endpoints are 1 year angiographic results and length of hospital stay. RESULTS: An interim analysis was performed after 103 patients were treated from November 2012 to July 2017 in 4 active centers. Fifty-two of the 55 patients allocated to surgery were treated by clipping, and 45 of the 48 allocated to EVT were treated by coiling, with 3 crossovers in each arm. The main endpoint (1 year mRS>2), available for 76 patients, was reached in 16/42 patients allocated to clipping (38%; 95%CI: 25%-53%), and 10/34 patients allocated to coiling (29%; 17%-46%). One year imaging results were available in 54 patients: complete aneurysm occlusion was found in 23/27 patients allocated to clipping (85%; 67%-94%), and 18/27 patients allocated to coiling (67%; 47%-81%). Hospital stay exceeding 20 days was more frequent in surgery (26/55 [47%; 34%-60%]) than EVT (9/48 [19%; 10%-31%]). CONCLUSION: Ruptured aneurysm patients for whom surgical clipping may still be best can be managed in a randomized care trial, which is feasible in some centers. More participating centers are needed.

Endovascular management of an embedded intracranial knife.

BACKGROUND: Endovascular therapy (ET) is infrequently used in the setting of acute penetrating intracranial trauma. METHODS: We report a case where ET was used immediately prior to and following removal of an embedded intracranial knife, which was found to be disrupting the anterior cerebral artery. RESULTS: The proximal vessel was coiled and angiographically occluded and then the knife was removed with the microcatheter in place. Immediate angiography allowed us to see and quickly treat the contrast extravasation with further coiling. Despite full medical management, the patient died of elevated intracranial pressure. CONCLUSION: In this severely injured patient, endovascular therapy represented the most suitable means to attempt safe removal of the knife.

Mastoid pneumocele causing atlantooccipital pneumatization.

A 49-year-old woman had a palpable mass in her occipital region. Plain radiographs and CT examination revealed extensive atlantooccipital pneumatization with findings consistent with the diagnosis of mastoid pneumocele. Decompression was achieved with placement of a myringotomy tube, resulting in prompt symptomatic relief. On a follow-up CT examination, the pneumatized areas had become opacified and new bone formation was present.

Pharmacological and morphological effects of in vitro transluminal balloon angioplasty on normal and vasospastic canine basilar arteries.

Despite growing clinical use of transluminal balloon angioplasty (TBA) to treat cerebral vasospasm after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), the precise mechanism of action of balloon dilation on the cerebral arterial wall is unknown. In this experiment the authors examined the pharmacological and morphological changes in 10 normal and 12 vasospastic canine basilar arteries following in vitro silicone microballoon TBA. For the SAH group in which the double-hemorrhage model was used, vasospasm was confirmed by angiography and the animals were killed on Day 7 after the first SAH. In vitro TBA was performed on basilar arteries from normal and SAH dogs immediately after sacrifice and removal of the brain. The procedure was performed while the arteries were maintained in oxygenated Krebs buffer. In the pharmacological studies, potassium chloride, prostaglandin F2 alpha, serotonin, and noradrenaline were used as vasoconstrictors, and bradykinin and calcium ionophore A23187 were used to produce an endothelium-dependent dilation. In both normal and vasospastic groups, the pharmacological responses of dilated segments of basilar arteries were compared to those of nondilated segments of the same arteries. Vessels from all groups were examined using scanning electron microscopy (EM) and transmission EM. Scanning EM was used to study the intact vessel wall, the smooth-muscle cell layer obtained after digestion with hydrochloric acid, and the extracellular matrix obtained after digestion with bleach. Cross-sections of the vessel wall were examined using transmission EM. The most striking finding was that immediately after in vitro TBA of both normal and vasospastic canine basilar arteries, there was a significant reduction (p < 0.05) of responses to both vasoconstrictors and vasorelaxants. As revealed by scanning EM and transmission EM, both normal and vasospastic vessels dilated with TBA showed flattening and patchy denudation of the endothelium, and straightening and occasional rupturing of the internal elastic lamina. In addition, vasospastic vessels dilated with TBA showed decreased surface rippling and mild stretching and straightening of smooth-muscle cells, and mild thinning of the tunica media. There was no gross vascular disruption or obvious change in the extracellular matrix of the vessel walls of either normal or vasospastic arteries after TBA. These results suggest that functional impairment of vasoreactivity in the vessel wall as a result of mechanical stretching of the smooth-muscle layer plays a more important role than structural alteration, at least in the immediate dilation produced in vasospastic arteries by TBA.

MR of deep cerebral venous thrombosis.

Two cases of deep cerebral venous thrombosis are presented with specific reference to the CT and MR findings. The MR findings are discussed, with comparison to the findings of superficial cerebral sino-venous occlusion.