The application of the unruptured intracranial aneurysm treatment score: a retrospective, single-center study

The unruptured intracranial aneurysm treatment score (UIATS) was published in April 2015 as a multidisciplinary consensus regarding treatment of unruptured intracranial aneurysms (UIA). As a tertiary center with focus on vascular neurosurgery, we aimed to investigate whether our treatment decision-making in patients with UIA has been in accordance with the recently published UIATS. A retrospective analysis of patients admitted to our center with UIA was performed. UIATS was applied to all identified UIA. Three decision groups were defined: (a) UIATS favoring treatment, (b) UIATS favoring observation, and (c) UIATS inconclusive. These results were then compared to our clinical decisions. Spearman’s rank-order correlation (ρ) was run to determine the relationship between the UIATS and our clinical decisions. Cases of discrepancies between UIATS and our clinical decisions were then examined for complications, defined as periprocedural adverse events in treated aneurysms, or aneurysm rupture in untreated aneurysms. Ninety-three patients with 147 UIA were included. A total of 118/147 (80.3%) UIA were treated. In 70/118 (59.3%), UIATS favored treatment, in 18/118 (15.3%), it was inconclusive, and in 30/118 (25.4%), it favored observation. A total of 29/147 (19.7%) UIA were not treated. In 15/29 (51.7%), UIATS favored observation, in 9/29 (31%), it favored treatment, and in 5/29 (17.2%), it was inconclusive (ρ = 0.366, p < 0.01). Discrepancies between UIATS and our clinical decisions did not correlate with complications (ρ = 0.034, p = 0.714). Our analysis shows that our more intuitive clinical decision-making has been in line with UIATS. Our treatment decisions did not correlate with an increased rate of complications.