Has anyone has experience of coiling using hydrogel – coated coils? I will be having surgery to coil a large aneurysm with a wide neck and the possibility of using hydrogel-coated coils has been raised. I would be interested to hear from anyone who has had their aneurysm treated using these. I understand that they are thought to be more effective in coiling wide necked aneurysms and preventing recurrence.
How large is your annie? I have been coiled 5 times on same annie and if I remember correctly the last 3 or 4 times were with hydro coils. The doctors were all very excited about them but I continued to have occlusion problems. On the 6th procedure they placed a stent and next month they will hopefully finalize and fully occlude with some additional coils. My Annie is 10mm
Hi Craig. Its balloon shaped, 17mm/15.3mm with a 10.1mm neck. I have been told that there may well be a problem with occlusion in the future due to the size of the neck and at the hospital I will be admitted to they are starting to use these hydrogel-coated coils as well, hence my interest in other people’s experiences, especially with large anuerysms and whether they did the trick or there were still problems with the aneurysm opening up again
Very large for sure. Perhaps they will consider stenting to help “bridge” which is basically what they are doing with me. They refer to mine as a wide neck but I don’t actually know measurement. Did you rupture?
No it hasn’t ruptured but it has a wide neck which will mean that after coiling there is a possibility of it not remaining occluded. The neuro has mentioned that they may have to add a stent as well to preserve the blood flow in the posterior communicating artery.
Just be real happy you didn’t rupture. That is a large annie and rupture would not be pretty. It sounds like your docs have a plan of attack so go with the flow. Try to be optimistic but not so much so that if further procedures are required that they don’t get you down. Not to be pessemistic but I bet it’s not a single procedure fix. Good Luck.
Mine was much smaller than yours, 6 mm with a wide neck, no rupture. I had coils and stent and my doc said the most important thing is to take the plavix and most especially the asprin after the procedure so that there will be no clotting on the stent.
Best of luck to you!
Hi Kimberley, I have been told by my neurosurgeon that I will have to take plavix and asprin after the coiling. It seems to be taking forever to get it sorted. Told about the aneurysm on Sept 7th and it is likley to be one to two months before surgery due to efforts to optimise my thyroid. I’m finding the waiting around difficult, will be glad when the coiling is done.
Caro,
I had to wait 5 weeks for my surgery and it was really hard! I was so afraid of every little thing I felt and my husband and kids were too. Everyone would freak out if I went for a walk without the cell phone or didn’t let them know where I was every minute. I was afraid to strain myself in any way because I thought it would rupture. Hang in there!
I had to take the Plavix for 3 months, and the asprin will be for 6 months. I had to start both 7 days before the surgery.