Objective: In the acute stage of ruptured cerebral aneurysms, limited devices are available, making the treatment difficult. We aimed to evaluate the outcomes of the coil embolization with stenting for the ruptured cerebral aneurysms in the acute stage.

Methods: We assessed 22 cases treated with stenting among 134 of 169 consecutive patients with subarachnoid hemorrhages undergoing an endovascular treatment between April 2014 and December 2021, of which 134 underwent an embolization during the acute stage. A stent was used in the patients wherein the treatment with the balloon-assisted or double catheter technique was difficult. Stenting was performed under the loading of two or more antiplatelet agents.

Results: The mean age of the patients was 68.9 years, of which five were male and 14 (63.6%) had severe grade (World Federation of Neurosurgeons grade IV, V). The aneurysm site was the anterior communicating artery in four cases, internal carotid artery in nine, middle cerebral artery in two, vertebrobasilar artery in six, and posterior cerebral artery in one. The aneurysm shape was saccular in 13 cases, dissection in seven, and fusiform in two. Stents were used for wide-neck aneurysms in 12 cases, vascular preservation in seven, and rescue in three. The mean maximum diameter was 9.6 mm. The mean neck size was 6.4 mm. Complete occlusion and neck remnant were found in eight and seven cases, respectively. The perioperative complication rate was 45.5% (thromboembolism in five cases, stent occlusion in two, re-bleeding in two, and cerebral hemorrhage in one). The outcomes included modified Rankin Scale 0–2 in seven cases, 4–5 in five, and 6 in nine. Stent-related death occurred in one case. The rate of morbidity and mortality was 18.2%. Although stents were used in the acute stage of rupture, they were used for the right reasons. However, a high rate of complications occurred: two cases of re-bleeding, in which an incomplete occlusion was a factor.

Conclusion: Stent placement in patients with the acute ruptured cerebral aneurysms should be carefully determined and efforts should be made to reduce the embolic and hemorrhagic complications. However, it may be an effective treatment option when other options could be extremely difficult.

Objective: This study aimed to report the outcome of an endovascular treatment with a pipeline embolization device (PED) at a single center. We also examined the predictive factors for an incomplete occlusion after the PED placement.

Methods: The subjects were 94 patients with 109 aneurysms who underwent the PED placement at our single center from June 2015 to September 2022. As treatment outcomes, we investigated the PED placement success rate, perioperative morbidity and mortality, postoperative cranial nerve improvement rate, and the classification of angiographic result at 6 months after the PED placement. Furthermore, the predictors of an incomplete occlusion were investigated in detail.

Results: One hundred nine aneurysms locations were: C1 (9), C2 (30), C3 (15), C4 (53), and C5 (2) in the internal carotid artery segments. Perioperative morbidity, including the asymptomatic ones, occurred in 10 cases (10.6%). Among these 10 cases, the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) improved to preoperative mRS after 90 days in 9 cases except 1 case. On the other hand, no perioperative mortality was observed. The postoperative cranial nerve improvement rate was 84.4%, and 61.7% of patients had a complete occlusion in the follow-up angiography, 6 months after the PED placement. Predictive factors for an incomplete occlusion after the PED placement were the elderly aged 70 years or older (P-value = 0.0214), the elderly aged 75 years or older (P-value = 0.0009), and the use of anticoagulants (P-value = 0.0388) in an univariate analysis. Further, the multivariate analysis revealed that the elderly aged 75 years or older was a predictive factor of an incomplete occlusion in this study.

Conclusion: We summarized the outcomes of the PED treatment at our single center. In this study, the elderly aged 75 years or older was a predictive factor of an incomplete occlusion after the PED placement.

Objective: Basilar artery occlusion (BAO) is an infrequent form of acute life-threatening stroke and may occur secondary to vertebral artery dissection (VAD). VAD, which occurs spontaneously and sometimes results from mechanical stress or blunt force trauma to the neck, sometimes occurs in the V1−V2 junction, but there are not many reported cases of those. Herein, we report a pictorially illustrative and clinically informative case of VAD in the V1–V2 junction following BAO.

Case Presentation: The patient was a 27-year-old woman who was transferred to our hospital with abrupt severe unconsciousness. On admission, she presented with generalized convulsions and respiratory arrest, and pan-scan CT and CTA indicated BAO. We performed mechanical thrombectomy and achieved recanalization of the basilar artery, and she was diagnosed with BAO secondary to the right VAD at the entry of the C6 transverse foramen (V1–V2 junction). In hindsight, she had scapula and back pain before the onset. She recovered with a modified Rankin scale score of 3 after 90 days from the onset.

Conclusion: VAD sometimes occurs at its entry into the transverse foramen of the C6 vertebra. In this case, VAD may be affected by minor trauma and potentially histological fragility due to the embryonic development process. Although BAO is sometimes difficult to diagnose because it presents with various symptoms, BAO secondary to VAD should be considered in cases of abrupt severe unconsciousness preceded by neck, scapula, or back pain in young and healthy persons.