Short-term outcomes and hospitalization cost associated with flow diversion versus coil embolization for unruptured aneurysms: A national assessment.

objectiveThe use of flow diversion (FD) has rapidly increased over the last decade, particularly for treatment of complex aneurysms not amenable to conventional coil embolization (CE). We aimed to compare national outcomes and healthcare utilization associated with FD and CE of unruptured aneurysms.

methodsThe National Inpatient Sample (2019-2022) was used to identify patients with unruptured intracranial aneurysms who underwent CE or FD (patients undergoing both FD+CE were classified as FD). Pediatric patients, non-elective admissions, and patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage were excluded. Variables included sociodemographics (e.g., age, race, gender), hospital factors (e.g., size, ownership, teaching status, location), and basic clinical variables in bivariate and multivariable regression. Outcomes included in-hospital mortality, stroke, discharge disposition (favorable/unfavorable), length of stay, and total cost of hospitalization.

results7370 patients were identified, of which 4280 were CE and 3090 were FD. Given the elective nature of intervention, rates of mortality (0.19 %), unfavorable discharge disposition (2.77 %), and stroke (0.83 %) were low. On multivariable analysis, use of flow diversion was not associated with unfavorable discharge (OR 0.80, P = 0.211) or stroke (OR 0.91, P = 0.753). FD trended toward, but did not reach, statistical significance for elevated length of stay (IRR 1.04, P = 0.150); however, it did lead to a significantly higher overall cost (ß=$1260.98, P = 0.049)

conclusionNationally, short-term outcomes are similar between FD and CE, although use of FD does imbue a mildly higher hospitalization cost. Further work is needed to characterize large-scale, long-term outcome differences, particularly as FD use increases for more complex aneurysms not amenable to CE.