Letter by Pierot Regarding Article “Flow-Diverter Stent for the Endovascular Treatment of Intracranial Aneurysms: A Prospective Study in 29 Patients With 34 Aneurysms”

Abstract

To the Editor: We read with great interest the results of a prospective study regarding the use of a flow-diverter stent for endovascular treatment of intracranial aneurysms.1 Twenty-nine patients with 34 complex aneurysms were treated. Treatment failed in 3 patients (10.3%). As in previous series, the rate of perioperative clinical complications was low, but because of delayed complications, the mortality and morbidity rates were 4% and 15%, respectively. This series described the initial experience of 3 centers with a completely new device during the ascending phase of the learning curve. Therefore, it is probably not appropriate to make definitive conclusions with such a limited and preliminary experience. Flow diversion is a new endovascular approach dedicated to the treatment of complex aneurysm types: large and giant, fusiform, and wide-neck aneurysms. For some of these lesions, no alternative treatment is available. Surprisingly, in the Lubicz et al1 series, the number of small aneurysms treated with flow diverters is quite high (aneurysms with diameters <10 mm: 18/34 patients …