Hemodynamic performance of coil embolization and stentassisted coil embolization treatments： a numerical comparative study based on subject-specific models of cerebral aneurysms

Hemodynamic characteristics such as blood velocity, blood pressure, flow impingement, wall shear stress and oscillatory shear index are considered to play important roles in the initiation, growth, rupture and recurrence of the cerebral aneurysms. Endovascular therapy is widely implemented to treat the cerebral aneurysms by releasing coils into the aneurysm sac for limiting the blood flow to the sac and stent-assisted coil embolization is adopted to occlude the wide-necked or complex aneurysms. Some researchers believe that stents are not only a mechanical device but may act as a biological system and contribute to vessel wall healing. Hemodynamics simulation helps people understand the effect of hemodynamic characteristics on the recurrence of the coiled aneurysm and it also benefits the interventional planning of neurosurgeons. This study constructed the numerical model for a subject-specific ICA aneurysm treated with stent-assisted coil embolization, which combined the coiled model of the aneurysm with a porous stent placement, and simulated the pulsatile blood flow in these aneurysm models. When a stent was placed across the aneurysm orifice in the coiled aneurysm, the high wall shear stress around the distal aneurysm root was reduced more than that of the coiled aneurysm without a stent. The simulated results point to the conclusion that the stent not only protects the parent artery from occlusion due to extension of coils or thrombosis, but may also reduce the recurrence risk of the stent-assisted coiled aneurysm.