Frail or elderly patients who have a dangerous blood-vessel bulge might benefit from surgery that uses a catheter to deliver tiny coils to seal off the aneurysm.

Gruber, A., et al. 1999. Clinical and angiographic results of endosaccular coiling treatment of a giant and very large intracranial aneurysms: A 7-year, single-center experience. Neurosurgery 45(October):793.

Byrne, J.V., et al. 1995. Endosaccular treatment of inoperable intracranial aneurysms with platinum coils. British Journal of Neurosurgery 9:585.

Guglielmi, G., et al. 1992. Endovascular treatment of posterior circulation aneurysms by electrothrombosis using electrically detachable coils. Journal of Neurosurgery 77:515.

Schievink, W.I. 1997. Intracranial aneurysms. New England Journal of Medicine 336(Jan. 2):28.

Andreas Gruber
University of Vienna Medical School
Department of Neurosurgery
Waehringer Guertel 18-20
A-1090 Vienna
Austria

From Science News, Vol. 156, No. 21, November 20, 1999, p. 328. Copyright © 1999, Science Service.