Endovascular treatment of cerebral aneurysms: a retrospective study of 163 embolized aneurysms.

OBJECTIVE To present the results of cerebral aneurysms treated by endovascular technique. METHOD Retrospective analysis of patient files of Hospital Geral de Fortaleza, Brazil. RESULTS We report the results of 163 cerebral aneurysms treated by endovascular techniques from January 2002 to October 2005. Patients with ruptured aneurysms (87.2%), according to Hunt-Hess scale were: 33.7% HH I, 28.4% HH II, 24.1% HH III, 13.8% HH IV. The Fisher scale grade IV was the most common (39.7%). Remodeling, coil embolization, arterial occlusion and histoacryl embolization were the techniques employed. Effective occlusion was achieved in 87.7%, partial occlusion in 5.3% and non-effective occlusion in 7.0% of the patients. Glasgow outcome scale results were: 76.3% GOS 5, 5.0% GOS 4, 5.8% GOS 3, 1.4% GOS 2 and 11.5% GOS 1. CONCLUSION Endovascular treatment seems to be feasible within Brazilian public health system, with results as good as those obtained in larger international centers.