Objective To assess the ‘real-world’ performance of the newer generation of hydrogel coils in ruptured aneurysms.

Methods A multicenter retrospective study was carried out of angiographic and clinical outcome data on consecutive patients with ruptured aneurysms treated with at least 70% of the newer generation of hydrogel coils. Demographics and data on clinical grade, smoking, use of statins, aneurysm size, location, technique used, packing density, immediate angiographic result, angiographic follow-up, rebleeding and clinical outcome were obtained and analyzed.

Results Eighty patients (54F; 26M) with an average age of 55.1 years were entered in the study. Forty-four presented good clinical grade (Hunt and Hess 1 or 2). Forty-two (52.5%) aneurysms were ≤5 mm. 56.7% of the aneurysms were treated with simple coil embolization and 39.6% with balloon-assisted coil. The packing density ranged from 9.3% to 92.6% (mean 48.5%). Immediate occlusion rates (Raymond–Roy Scale) were: complete occlusion (class I) in 57.5%, residual neck (class II) in 32.5% and residual aneurysm (class III) in 10%. Intraoperative rupture occurred in 3 cases (3.75%). Clinical follow-up, available in 73 patients, showed a good outcome (modified Rankin Scale 0–2) in 76.3%. Preliminary data on imaging follow-up were available in 54 patients (average 6.8 months) with complete occlusion in 77.8%, residual neck in 20.3% and residual aneurysm in 1.9%. There was no re-hemorrhage.

Conclusions Our data show that the use of the newer-generation hydrogel coils in the treatment of ruptured aneurysms is feasible, safe and effective with high immediate and mid-term occlusion rates and low morbidity.