Boris Lubicz
During the last 10 years our department became a referral center for the development and the evaluation of new neuroendovascular devices. Therefore, I was asked more than 4 years ago, by the Sequent Medical company, to be among the first physicians to treat patients with the WEB device.
I have used this new endovascular tool strictly for complex aneurysms that were wide-neck lesions located on a bifurcation (MCA, anterior communicating artery, basilar tip, ICA tip). In this situation, the protection of both bifurcation branches is mandatory and technically challenging. These aneurysms thus remain difficult to treat via an endovascular approach.
Our preliminary results1 and the follow-up study2 showed that the WEB could be used to treat these complex aneurysms with satisfying clinical and anatomic results. Therefore, endovascular treatment with the WEB may be now considered as a therapeutic option for these difficult aneurysms.
Since our articles were published in AJNR, I have been contacted by many physicians who asked me about tips and tricks for this treatment, as well as my advice concerning treatment indications. It has also been very interesting to share experiences with other physicians about the use of this new technique.
Permanent evaluation of our techniques and results is mandatory to evaluate the place of new devices in the therapeutic armamentarium of intracranial aneurysms. That is the reason why we are currently involved in a multicentric European study concerning the long-term results of this treatment. Moreover, we are continuing to evaluate the new WEB generation, including the device itself (single-layer with different shapes) and the delivery microcatheter (smaller catheter, Via 21). These results will probably be presented in different congresses and then published.