What Is a Brain Aneurysm?
A brain aneurysm is when a blood vessel in your brain has a weak spot, and the weak spot bulges or balloons outward and fills with blood. A brain aneurysm is a serious condition because it can rupture and leak blood into the brain. This condition can potentially be fatal.
Symptoms
Many brain aneurysms don’t cause any symptoms and are often detected in tests for other medical conditions. However, when an aneurysm is large, it can press on the brain tissue and cause the following symptoms:
- Blurred or double vision
- Facial numbness
- Pain above or behind the eye
Diagnosis
Brain aneurysms are diagnosed using imaging tests. If you are experiencing the above symptoms, your doctor might order a CT scan or an MRI to create detailed pictures of the brain which will allow your doctor to see the telltale bulge in the blood vessel.
Treatment
Once your brain aneurysm is diagnosed, the neurosurgeon will consider many factors before deciding on a course of treatment. If intervention is necessary, the two most common treatment options are surgical clipping and endovascular coiling.
In surgical clipping, the neurosurgeon will place a small clip on the neck of the balloon which will completely cut off the blood supply to an aneurysm and eliminate the possibility of a rupture. The clip remains in place for life.
In contrast, endovascular coiling aims to stop the aneurysm’s blood supply from within the blood vessel. The neurosurgeon will go in through an artery (typically in the groin) and thread a catheter through the blood vessel to the aneurysm. Metal coils are then inserted into the aneurysm which seals it off from the artery.
The course of treatment varies depending on each patient’s individual circumstance. At UConn Health, the treatment is tailored for the patient’s specific pathology.
