G. Lanzino

Conscious Sedation versus General Anesthesia during Endovascular Acute Ischemic Stroke Treatment: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Nine studies encompassing nearly 2000 patients treated with or without anesthesia for acute stroke were analyzed. Patients with acute ischemic stroke undergoing intra-arterial therapy may have worse outcomes with general anesthesia compared with conscious sedation. However, the difference in stroke severity at the onset may confound the comparison in the available studies. BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: A number of studies have suggested that anesthesia type (conscious sedation versus general anesthesia) during intra-arterial treatment for acute ischemic stroke has implications for patient outcomes. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies comparing the clinical and angiographic outcomes of the 2 anesthesia types. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In March 2014, we conducted a computerized search of MEDLINE and EMBASE for reports on anesthesia and endovascular treatment of acute ischemic stroke. Using random-effects meta-analysis, we evaluated the following outcomes: recanalization rate, good functional outcome (mRS ≤ 2), asymptomatic and symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage, death, vascular complications, respiratory complications, procedure time, time to groin, and time from symptom onset to recanalization. RESULTS: Nine studies enrolling 1956 patients (814 with general anesthesia and 1142 with conscious sedation) were included. Compared with patients treated by using conscious sedation during stroke intervention, patients undergoing general anesthesia had higher odds of death (OR = 2.59; 95% CI, 1.87–3.58) and respiratory complications (OR = 2.09; 95% CI, 1.36–3.23) and lower odds of good functional outcome (OR = 0.43; 95% CI, 0.35–0.53) and successful angiographic outcome (OR = 0.54; 95% CI, 0.37–0.80). No difference in procedure time (P = .28) was seen between the groups. Preintervention NIHSS scores were available from 6 studies; in those, patients receiving general anesthesia had a higher average NIHSS score. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with acute ischemic stroke undergoing intra-arterial therapy may have worse outcomes with general anesthesia compared with conscious sedation. However, the difference in stroke severity at the onset may confound the comparison in the available studies; thus, a randomized trial is necessary to confirm this association.

Better Outcomes with Treatment by Coiling Relative to Clipping of Unruptured Intracranial Aneurysms in the United States, 2001–2008

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Endovascular therapy has increasingly become an acceptable option for treatment of unruptured aneurysms. To better understand the recent trends in the use of and outcomes related to coiling compared with clipping for unruptured aneurysms in the United States, we evaluated the NIS. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Hospitalizations for clipping or coiling of unruptured cerebral aneurysms from 2001 to 2008 were identified by cross-matching ICD codes for the diagnosis of unruptured aneurysm (437.3) with procedural codes for clipping (39.51) or coiling (39.52, 39.79, or 39.72) of cerebral aneurysms and excluding all patients with a diagnosis of subarachnoid hemorrhage (430) and intracerebral hemorrhage (431). Mortality and discharge to a long-term facility were evaluated for both clipping and coiling patient populations. RESULTS: The fraction of unruptured aneurysms treated with coiling increased from 20% in 2001 to 63% in 2008. For surgical clipping, the percentage of patients discharged to long-term facilities was 14.0% (4184/29,918) compared with 4.9% (1655/34,125) of coiled patients (P < .0001). Clipped patients also had a higher mortality rate because 344 (1.2%) clipped patients died compared with 215 (0.6%) coiled patients (P < .0001). Between 2001 and 2008, the overall number of adverse outcomes from treatment had decreased from 14.8% to 7.6%. CONCLUSIONS: The use of endovascular coiling relative to surgical clipping of unruptured intracranial aneurysms is associated with decreasing periprocedural morbidity and mortality among patients treated in the United States from 2001 to 2008.

Patient Outcomes Are Better for Unruptured Cerebral Aneurysms Treated at Centers That Preferentially Treat with Endovascular Coiling: A Study of the National Inpatient Sample 2001–2007

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Practice patterns vary widely among centers with regard to the treatment of unruptured aneurysms. The purpose of the current study was to correlate outcome data with practice patterns, specifically the proportion of unruptured aneurysms treated with neurosurgical clipping versus endovascular coiling. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Using the NIS, we evaluated outcomes of patients treated for unruptured aneurysms in the United States from 2001 to 2007. Hospitalizations for clipping or coiling of unruptured cerebral aneurysms were identified by cross-matching ICD codes for diagnosis of unruptured aneurysm with procedure codes for clipping or coiling of cerebral aneurysms. Mortality and morbidity, measured as “discharge to long-term facility,” were evaluated in relation to the fraction of cases treated with coils versus clipping as well as the annual number of unruptured aneurysms treated by individual hospitals and individual physicians. RESULTS: Markedly lower morbidity (P < .0001) and mortality (P = .0015) were noted in centers that coiled a higher percentage of aneurysms compared with the proportion of aneurysms clipped. Multivariate analysis showed that greater annual numbers of aneurysms treated by individual practitioners were significantly related to decreased morbidity (OR = 0.98, P < .0001), while the association between morbidity and the annual number of aneurysms treated by hospitals was not significant (OR = 1.00, P = .89). CONCLUSIONS: Centers that treated a higher percentage of unruptured aneurysms with coiling compared with clipping achieved markedly lower rates of morbidity and mortality. Our results also confirm that treatment by high-volume practitioners is associated with decreased morbidity.

Intra-Arterial Stroke Therapy: An Assessment of Demand and Available Work Force

SUMMARY: Intra-arterial therapy is currently applicable to a small subset of patients with ischemic stroke, but it will likely have an expanding role as new devices are introduced. This review evaluates the demand for such therapy and the physician work force available to provide such therapy in the United States. The available literature was reviewed to assess how many patients might need intra-arterial therapy annually and how many skilled neurointerventionalists are available to provide intra-arterial therapy for acute stroke. The number of acute ischemic strokes in the United States that will be amenable to intra-arterial therapy can only be crudely estimated, but it is certainly less than 126,000 per year and will quite likely be no more than 20,000 cases per year. The future demand for intra-arterial reperfusion techniques may change, but the number of patients who require intra-arterial thrombolysis is currently quite low. The overall number of neurointerventionists is currently adequate, though there might be local shortages.

Coil Embolization Versus Clipping for Ruptured Intracranial Aneurysms: A Meta-Analysis of Prospective Controlled Published Studies

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Coil embolization is an alternative to clipping for intracranial aneurysms. However, controversy exists regarding the best therapeutic strategy in patients with ruptured aneurysms, and there is great center- and country-related variability in the rates of clipping versus coiling. We performed a meta-analysis of prospective controlled trials of clipping versus coil embolization for ruptured aneurysms. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed a search of the English literature for published prospective controlled trials comparing surgical clipping with endovascular coil embolization for ruptured intracranial aneurysms. Data were abstracted from the identified references. Outcomes of interest were the proportion of patients with a poor outcome at 1 year and episodes of rebleeding from the index treated aneurysm after the allocated treatment. RESULTS: There were 3 prospective controlled trials eligible for inclusion. These studies enrolled 2723 patients. Meta-analysis of these studies showed that the rate of poor outcome at 1 year was significantly lower in patients allocated to coil embolization (risk ratio, 0.75; 95% confidence interval, 0.65–0.87). This relative effect is consistent with an absolute risk reduction of 7.8% and a number needed to treat of 13. The effect on mortality was not statistically different across the 2 treatments. Rebleeding rates within the first month were higher in patients allocated to endovascular coil embolization. CONCLUSIONS: On the basis of the analysis of the 3 high-quality prospective controlled trials available, there is strong evidence to indicate that endovascular coil embolization is associated with better outcomes compared with surgical clipping in patients amenable to either therapeutic strategy.

Comparison of 2D Digital Subtraction Angiography and 3D Rotational Angiography in the Evaluation of Dome-to-Neck Ratio

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Dome-to-neck ratio of intracranial aneurysms is an important predictor of outcomes of endovascular coiling. 3D imaging techniques are increasingly used in evaluating the dome-to-neck ratio of aneurysms for intervention. The purpose of this study was to determine whether 3D rotational angiography (3DRA) can be used to determine accurately the dome-to-neck ratio of intracranial aneurysms when compared with conventional 2D digital subtraction angiography (2D DSA). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective analysis of 180 patients with 205 intracranial aneurysms who underwent both 2D DSA and 3DRA for evaluation of previously untreated aneurysms was conducted. Dome-to-neck ratios were compared between 2D DSA and 3DRA images. The mean difference in dome-to-neck ratios between 2D DSA and 3DRA was calculated. The proportions of “wide-neck” aneurysms seen on 2D DSA and 3DRA were compared by using 2 different definitions of “wide-neck,” including <1.5 and <2.0. RESULTS: The average dome-to-neck ratio was 1.81 ± 0.55 and 1.55 ± 0.48 for 2D DSA and 3DRA, respectively (P < .0001). When we defined “wide-neck” as a dome-to-neck ratio <1.5, sixty-nine (33.7%) aneurysms were wide-neck on 2D DSA compared with 119 (58%) on 3DRA (P < .0001). When we defined “wide-neck” as dome-to-neck ratio <2.0, one hundred forty-two (69.3%) aneurysms were wide-neck on 2D DSA compared with 173 (84.4%) on 3DRA (P = .0004). CONCLUSIONS: In this retrospective study, 3DRA measurements resulted in significantly lower dome-to-neck ratios and significantly larger proportions of aneurysms defined as “wide-neck” compared with 2D DSA. Scrutiny of 2D DSA may offer substantial benefit over 3D techniques when triaging patients to or from endovascular therapy.

Risk Factors for Growth of Intracranial Aneurysms: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Understanding risk factors for intracranial aneurysm growth is important for patient management. We performed a meta-analysis examining risk factors for intracranial aneurysm growth in longitudinal studies and examined the association between aneurysm growth and rupture. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We searched the literature for longitudinal studies of patients with unruptured aneurysms. We examined the associations of demographics, multiple aneurysms, prior subarachnoid hemorrhage, family history of aneurysm or subarachnoid hemorrhage, smoking, and hypertension; and aneurysm shape, size, and location with aneurysm growth. We studied the association between aneurysm growth and rupture. A meta-analysis was performed by using a random-effects model by using summary statistics from included studies. RESULTS: Twenty-one studies including 3954 patients with 4990 aneurysms with 13,294 aneurysm-years of follow-up were included. The overall proportion of growing aneurysms was 3.0% per aneurysm-year (95% CI, 2.0%–4.0%). Patient risk factors for growth included age older than 50 years (3.8% per year versus 0.9% per year, P < .01), female sex (3.2% per year versus 1.3% per year, P < .01), and smoking history (5.5% per year versus 3.5% per year, P < .01). Characteristics associated with higher growth rates included cavernous carotid artery location (14.4% per year), nonsaccular shape (14.7% per year versus 5.2% per year for saccular, P < .01), and aneurysm size (P < .01). Aneurysm growth was associated with a rupture rate of 3.1% per year compared with 0.1% per year for stable aneurysms (P < .01). CONCLUSIONS: Observational evidence provided multiple clinical and anatomic risk factors for aneurysm growth, including age older than 50 years, female sex, smoking history, and nonsaccular shape. These findings should be considered when counseling patients regarding the natural history of unruptured intracranial aneurysms.

Hospitalization Costs for Endovascular and Surgical Treatment of Unruptured Cerebral Aneurysms in the United States Are Substantially Higher Than Medicare Payments

Aneurysm clipping is associated with longer hospital stays and higher total charges. Because coiling of aneurysms has become routine, it is important to know how much we are getting paid for these 2 procedures. For uncomplicated treatments, the average Medicare payment for clipping and coiling was 49% and 53%, respectively. For patients with major complications, the average percentage payments decreased to 34% and 41% for coiling and clipping, respectively. Therefore, hospitalization costs for patients undergoing clipping and coiling of unruptured cerebral aneurysms are substantially higher than Medicare payments. BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Both endovascular and surgical options are available for treatment of unruptured cerebral aneurysms. We conducted a study to determine the costs versus Medicare reimbursement for hospitalization of these patients, which is important information for understanding the economic impact of these patients on hospitals. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Using the NIS, we identified hospitalizations for clipping and coiling of unruptured cerebral aneurysms from 2001 to 2008 by cross-matching ICD-9 codes for diagnosis of unruptured aneurysm with procedure codes for clipping or coiling of cerebral aneurysms and excluding all patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage and intracerebral hemorrhage. Hospital costs for 2008 were correlated with age, sex, and discharge status and compared with Medicare payments. RESULTS: Costs of both clipping and coiling have increased from 2001 to 2008. The median 2008 hospital costs were

Patency of the Anterior Choroidal Artery after Flow-Diversion Treatment of Internal Carotid Artery Aneurysms

23,574 (IQR,

Inter- and Intraobserver Agreement in CT Characterization of Nonaneurysmal Perimesencephalic Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

18,233–