'aneurysms' Neuroscience (SNI) posts

It’s easy to get caught up in day-to-day demands and ignore changes in our health. It may not be wise, however, to dismiss those changes as symptoms of a hectic life. Blurred vision, dizziness or headaches that don’t get better can signal something serious.

Anywhere from 1 to 6 percent of Americans have a brain aneurysm but don’t know it. An aneurysm is a blister-like bulge on the wall of a blood vessel. It can go unnoticed for a long time. If it’s not treated, the pressure of the blood weakens the vessel, and the aneurysm grows like a balloon filling with air. If the aneurysm bursts, it causes a stroke.

An aneurysm can put pressure on nerves or tissue in the brain, which may cause:

• Headache or neck pain
• Vision problems, enlarged pupil, drooping eye lid
• Numb face
• Severe drowsiness

If you have a brain aneurysm, your doctor may ...

Intracranial aneurysms are present in up to 4 percent of the population. These potentially dangerous vascular lesions are being detected with increasing frequency in asymptomatic patients by advances in noninvasive imaging techniques, such as magnetic resonance angiography (MRA). Appearing like blisters on the wall of the brain’s blood vessels, aneurysms develop when the blood vessel’s native repair ability is exceeded by the mild, but constant, injury created by flowing blood under high pressure. The five most common risk factors for developing an aneurysm are: smoking, female gender, high blood pressure, middle age and family history.

Intracranial aneurysms are complex lesions that require a highly specialized, multidisciplinary approach that is individualized for each patient. Key members of the care team for these patients include endovascular neuroradiologists, neurosurgeons with special expertise in aneurysm surgery and neuroanesthesiologists. Availability of dedicated neurocritical care units is an essential care component. A consensus recommendation by these specialists may include close observation, obliteration of the aneurysm with a surgical clip, or filling the vascular outpouching with filamentous coils that are introduced by endovascular microcatheters via an artery in the leg. This latter process is called “coiling.”