“Waffle Cone” Technique for Intra/Extra-Aneurysmal Stent Placement for the Treatment of Complex and Wide-Necked Bifurcation Aneurysm

Abstract

Endovascular treatment of intracranial aneurysms by coiling has become an accepted alternative to surgical clipping 1. In cases of wide-necked and sidewall aneurysms, selective embolization is difficult because of the risk of coil protrusion into the parent vessel. The use of three-dimensional coils, stents 2, and balloon remodeling have all aided the attempt to adequately manage such lesions. However, compared with sidewall aneurysms, bifurcation aneurysms are more challenging from an endovascular standpoint. Because of their specific anatomy and hemodynamics, the tendency to recur and rerupture is higher. Several authors have reported successful treatment of these complex and wide-necked bifurcation aneurysms by using Y-configured dual stent-assisted coil embolization 3,4, the double microcatheter technique 5, a more compliant balloon remodeling technique6, the TriSpan neck-bridge device7, or the waffle cone technique8. We describe two cases of wide-necked bifurcation aneurysms in which the waffle cone technique was used for coil embolization. The waffle cone technique was first described in 2006; however, the small number of published cases and the lack of follow-up prevent one from assessing this technique's durability and the probability of recanalization. We report the cases of two patients harboring unruptured wide-necked bifurcation aneurysms that were treated and followed-up for six months.