Endovascular treatment of cerebral aneurysms: a retrospective study of 163 embolized aneurysms

OBJECTIVE: To present the results of cerebral aneurysms treated by endovascular technique. METHOD: Retrospective analysis of patient files of Hospital Geral de Fortaleza, Brazil. RESULTS: We report the results of 163 cerebral aneurysms treated by endovascular techniques from January 2002 to October 2005. Patients with ruptured aneurysms (87.2%), according to Hunt-Hess scale were: 33.7% HH I, 28.4% HH II, 24.1% HH III, 13.8% HH IV. The Fisher scale grade IV was the most common (39.7%). Remodeling, coil embolization, arterial occlusion and histoacryl embolization were the techniques employed. Effective occlusion was achieved in 87.7%, partial occlusion in 5.3% and non-effective occlusion in 7.0% of the patients. Glasgow outcome scale results were: 76.3% GOS 5, 5.0% GOS 4, 5.8% GOS 3, 1.4% GOS 2 and 11.5% GOS 1. CONCLUSION: Endovascular treatment seems to be feasible within Brazilian public health system, with results as good as those obtained in larger international centers.