Clipping Versus Coiling in Anterior Circulation Ruptured Intracranial Aneurysms: A Meta-Analysis.

Objective: To evaluate open surgical versus endovascular repair of anterior circulation ruptured intracranial aneurysms based on operative mortality, permanent neurologic deficit, late mortality, and need for reintervention.

Methods: This meta-analysis included articles published since December 6, 2016, that compared outcomes of the 2 methods. Extracted data were organized in a standard table format, including first author, country, covered study period, publication year, number of patients and patients at follow-up, operative mortality rate (with 30 days from treatment), permanent neurologic deficit (appearing after surgery), late mortality (after 1 month), and reintervention (surgery or coiling) for both groups of patients. Follow-up was at least 1 year.

Results: There were 8 articles that matched our study criteria. The study population was 628 patients; 374 were treated with surgical clipping, and 254 were treated with endovascular coiling. Pooled results showed no statistically significant difference between the 2 groups in terms of operative mortality, permanent neurologic deficit, late mortality, and need for reintervention.

Conclusions: Selection of the appropriate procedure must be made on the basis of the special characteristics of each case.