Effectiveness, Safety and Risk Factors of Woven EndoBridge Device in the Treatment of Wide-Neck Intracranial Aneurysms: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objective: To assess the current efficacy, safety, and risk factors of the Woven EndoBridge (WEB) in treating wide-neck intracranial aneurysms.

Methods: We searched the PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, and Embase databases between December 1, 2012 and June 30, 2018. Studies were included if they featured ≥5 patients undergoing WEB for wide-neck intracranial aneurysms, reported an angiographic or clinical outcome and risk factors, and were published after December 1, 2012. Major outcomes included initial or short-term complete and adequate occlusion. Secondary outcomes included treatment failure, recanalization, mortality, morbidity, and complication rates. A random-effect model was used to pool the data. To assess risk factors for short-term angiographic outcomes and the most common complications, we conducted subgroup analyses.

Results: We included 36 studies (1759 patients with 1749 aneurysms). The initial complete and adequate occlusion rates were 35% and 77%, respectively. The short-term (mean follow-up, 9.34 months) complete and adequate occlusion rates were 53% and 80%, respectively. Thromboembolism and recanalization had the highest occurrence (both 9%), followed by mortality (7%), morbidity (6%), failure (5%) and intraoperative rupture (3%). The following factors were related to higher short-term obliteration rates: unruptured status, in the anterior circulation, a medium neck (4-9.9 mm), newer-generation WEB, and treatment without additional devices. Ruptured status, anterior circulation, preoperative antiplatelet therapy, and newer-generation WEB were not significantly related to thromboembolism.

Conclusions: WEB is safe and shows promising efficacy in treating wide-neck intracranial aneurysms. We preliminarily identified several risk factors for short-term angiographic outcomes.