A braided wire device used to treat brain aneurysms occurring where the blood vessels branch out also may be effective in treating sidewall brain aneurysms, according to a study published on 19 April in Radiology.
Currently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the woven EndoBridge (WEB) device for wide-neck intracranial bifurcation aneurysms. However, some specialists have used it off-label for the treatment of sidewall aneurysms.
To get a better understanding of the effectiveness of the plug for sidewall aneurysms, the study authors analyzed information from a large database spanning more than 10 years from the WorldWideWEB consortium, a group of 23 academic institutions in North America, South America, Australia, and Europe.
Of the 683 intracranial aneurysms noted in the database, 671 were treated using the WEB device. Of those, 572 were bifurcation aneurysms and 111 were sidewall aneurysms.
After reviewing the data, no significant difference was found using the WEB device in sidewall aneurysms compared with bifurcation aneurysms, suggesting it was safe and effective to treat sidewall aneurysms, according to the authors.
The results may drive a discussion about expanding the indications for the WEB device to include certain sidewall aneurysms.
