The effectiveness of the waffle-cone technique in treating complex intracranial aneurysms.

We report 13 consecutive cases of complex intracranial aneurysms treated by the waffle-cone technique and the midterm angiographic results and discuss the effectiveness and safety of this technique. We performed a retrospective review to evaluating the angiographic results and clinical effectiveness of 15 cases in which waffle-cone stenting for treating broad-necked complex intracranial aneurysms at our institution up to July 2008. Among these 15 patients, we enrolled 13 patients who had undergone at least one follow-up angiography. We collected patient data including age, sex, ruptured state, aneurysm size, neck size, complications, initial Hunt and Hess (HH) grade, modified Rankin Score (mRS) at the last angiographic follow-up, and initial and follow- up angiographic results.The mean size of the aneurysm was 10.6 mm (range, 4.0 to 20.4 mm) and the mean size of the aneurysm neck was 5.7 mm (range, 2.7 to 9.2 mm). The mean angiographic follow-up time was 13.6 months (range, six to 30 months). There were no procedure-related complications. However, there were two delayed complications. One complication was delayed focal embolic infarct and the other complication was delayed rebleeding. Angiographic improvement was achieved in two cases (15.4%), stable occlusion was achieved in seven cases (53.8%), and recanalization or compaction that needed retreatment occurred in four cases (30.8%). We think that the waffle-cone technique is an effective alternative in selected aneurysms unable to be "Y" stented or surgically clipped.