Brain Aneurysm Survival Rate

Brain Aneurysm Survival Rate

A brain aneurysm is a dilated artery that forms a bubble inside the brain that can easily break open. Unfortunately, you rarely know you have it until it ruptures. The chance that an aneurysm is going to rupture is about 1 percent each year. Then, what is the brain aneurysm survival rate after the aneurysm ruptures?

What Is Brian Aneurysm?
A brain aneurysm is a bubble or balloon-like structure coming out of a bleed vessel within the brain itself. It often looks like a berry, so they are often referred to as berry aneurysm. The ballooned part of the blood vessel is very thin, and under certain circumstances, the aneurysm can burst open so that blood leaks out into the tissues of the brain. When the brain aneurysm ruptures, it is considered a neurosurgical emergency because the bleeding can be deadly. You need to go to an emergency room in a hospital and see neurosurgeons that may be able to improve your brain aneurysm survival rate.

There are often no signs or symptoms of a brain aneurysm that hasn't ruptured yet, so they don't get identified unless you are being examined for another reason. The symptoms usually occur after the rupture or when the aneurysm pushes on surrounding brain structures. The symptoms you get are largely dependent on where in the brain the aneurysm ruptures. In most cases, you will get a Headache that is extremely severe. Some people get no headache when their aneurysm ruptures and get other symptoms, including the following:

• Pain in the face


• Loss of vision in one part of the visual field


• Fainting episodes


• Neurological findings in one part of the body


• Seizures


• Extreme confusion


• Nausea and vomiting


• Heart rhythm problems


• Pain in the eyes when exposed to light


• Neck stiffness or pain


• Nose bleed


• Dilated pupils


• Difficulty breathing


• Symptoms of a Stroke

If you have any of these symptoms and think it might be associated with an aneurysm, you should seek medical attention right away.

What Is the Brain Aneurysm Survival Rate?
About six million US citizens have a silent brain aneurysm that hasn't ruptured. This amounts to about 1 in 50 individuals. These people are usually safe and don't know they have an aneurysm. A few cases of brain aneurysm can rupture and this is when the brain aneurysm rate goes way down.

About 8 to 10 individuals per 100,000 (30,000 people) in the US will have their aneurysm break open. This is a rate of about one rupture every 18 minutes. When the brain aneurysm ruptures, about 40 percent of the time, the rupture is fatal. Those that do not die generally have some permanent brain damage or residual deficits at a rate of about 66 percent.

When the brain aneurysm ruptures, it leads to a subarachnoid hemorrhage, which is a very dangerous condition and which decreases the brain aneurysm survival rate. About 15 percent of these people never make it alive to the hospital. Instead, there is significant bleeding and brain injury that can't be fixed with medicines or surgery.

Your age and your usual state of health, along with the location and size of the aneurysm, will affect survival rate of brain aneurysm largely.

How to Diagnose Unruptured Brain Aneurysm Early for Being Cautious
As you know that having a ruptured aneurysm greatly reduces your brain aneurysm survival rate, it becomes important to find out if you have an unruptured aneurysm before the rupture occurs. Because there are few symptoms, this can be extremely difficult to diagnose until it is too late. Fortunately, there can still be symptoms when you have an unruptured aneurysm that may give you a clue that something with the aneurysm is about to happen. Some of these symptoms include the following:

• Dizziness


• Headaches


• Visual problems


• Pain in the eye


• Double vision


• Seizures


• Blurry vision

Unfortunately, these types of symptoms can mimic other diseases, so you may not realize it is from an aneurysm. If you suspect something is going on, seek the advice of your doctor. The doctor may be able to identify the presence of a brain aneurysm by doing a CT scan or MRI scan of the brain. If you believe you are at risk of having an aneurysm because of a family history, the doctor will likely do some kind of evaluation of the brain to see if you, too, are at risk.

How to Deal With Unruptured Brain Aneurysms
If the brain aneurysm is discovered prior to rupturing, there may be treatment that can be done to keep it from rupturing later. Since most brain aneurysms do not rupture, doctors only treat those who are particularly at high risk.

Treatment is considered under certain circumstances, such as the size and location of the aneurysm, your age, the risk of hemorrhaging, your family history of brain aneurysms, your state of health and whether or not you tolerate surgery.

Most brain aneurysm treatments involve using small coils that clot the blood inside the aneurysm or doing an open procedure in which the aneurysm is clipped before it can bleed.

If you do not need aggressive procedures, you should still be evaluated on a regular basis to assess the aneurysm. There are medications you can take to lower your Blood Pressure and lifestyle changes you can make that will improve your brain aneurysm survival rate. These include the following:

• Eat a good diet low in salt and high in fruits and vegetables


• Quit smoking


• Stay at a healthy weight. This can reduce your blood pressure and will keep you healthy


• You should reduce your alcohol intake to the recommended 2-3 drinks per day


• Regularly exercise, as this will keep your blood pressure down and strengthen your blood vessels


• Decrease caffeine intake. This means drinking more water and fewer beverages that contain caffeine.

What If Having Been Diagnosed with Ruptured Brain Aneurysm?
If you have already had a ruptured aneurysm and a subarachnoid hemorrhage, emergency treatment is necessary. The doctors can use clips or coils to reduce bleeding in the same way as it is done for unruptured brain aneurysm.

It is important to have the patient's case discussed by a neurosurgeon and an interventional radiologist if there is time to do so. Techniques used by a neurosurgeon and those done by an interventional radiologist are different, but either treatment is possible. The choice of procedure done depends on the skill of the doctors, the patient's age and overall health.

Aneurysm

Aneurysm






The process of thickening of blood vessels is known as aneurysm. The blood vessel develops abnormal bulging or swelling causing complications. Aneurysm can happen in any blood vessel. Aneurysm is common in brain where ballooning of blood vessel occurs in the brain. If the blood vessel gets ruptured inside it can cause severe Headache, Stroke and even death. Aneurysm can be treated by two main approaches by name emboilzation and by surgical clipping.

Types :

Although brain aneurysm is common there are other types of aneurysm given below:-

• Aortic Aneurysm :

It occurs in the major blood vessel (aorta) of the heart. This blood vessel carries pure blood from the heart to other vital organs. Often thickening or ballooning of this blood vessel do not show any symptoms and is diagnosed only in late stages. If aortic aneurysm causes internal bleeding it can be life threatening and fatal.

• Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) :

The blood vessel or aorta that passes through the abdomen gets thickened leading to aneurysm. In some cases it may develop in the thoracic region leading to ballooning of blood vessel in the chest area.

• Brain Aneurysm :

Your brain gets blood supply through 4 major blood vessels that fuse together in a point called Circle of Willis. Often, aneurysm develops in the region where the blood vessel gives out branches. It can rupture inside causing internal bleeding and subarachnoid hemorrhage. Small branching arteries found in the front portion of the brain have less chance for getting ruptured. Your doctor will examine the location and size of the aneurysm to tell you about the chances of rupturing.

• Peripheral Aneurysm :

This type of aneurysm develops in any of the arteries like that of your arm or legs or even on your groin.

Brain Aneurysm Causes :

Two carotid arteries and a pair of vertebral arteries join together at a point called the Circle of Wills. These are the major arteries that supply oxygen to the brain. This point is found at the basal portion of the brain from where several small branches of arteries emerge. There are some weak spots in the artery at the junction of fusion with the main artery. These spots become vulnerable to form aneurysm by developing ballooning pouches in the blood vessels.

It can be caused due to Hypertension or trauma or due to sudden excess of blood flow in the weak spots of the arteries. Any severe infections in the artery can damage the artery wall causing aneurysm. Prolonged use of drugs like cocaine can cause inflammation of the arteries leading to aneurysm. A person with family history of aneurysm has increased risk of developing aneurysm. A person who has had aneurysm earlier is likely to develop it again. Brain aneurysm is common in women than in men and people of African American origin have increased chance of developing aneurysm.

Symptoms :

Brain aneurysm will not produce any symptoms. Often aneurysm is not detected until something wrong happens. In severe cases it can cause symptoms like intense headache, numbness, blurred vision and dilated pupil. The headache experienced during leaking aneurysm can be very severe and often it can be the worst headache. For some people it can cause vomiting and nausea. It can produce stiffness in the neck region. Brain aneurysm is likely to rupture inside causing stroke or death. Blood can leak inside the membranes of the brain (meninges) and sometimes blood leakage can occur in the spine (subarachnoid hemorrhage).

Diagnosis :

Your doctor will complete the physical exam and look for the above symptoms. The diagnosis of the aneurysm begins with a degree of suspicion and the symptom of the worst headache. Sometimes the headache can develop due to brain tumor or migraine or stroke also.

He may order for CT scan of the head to check if there is any subarachnoid hemorrhage. If necessary he would perform a lumbar puncture or biopsy to test the blood in the lab. To confirm the diagnosis angiography is done in the brain arteries.

Treatment :

The purpose of treatment is to provide immediate relief for the damaging symptoms and to repair the blood vessel. Two types of treatment namely surgical clipping and embolization are available. The doctor will consider factors like age, health condition and the location of aneurysm before starting the treatment.

In case the patient has small aneurysm which has very low chances of rupturing inside then your doctor will consider other options instead of brain surgery. The biggest concern of the doctor would be to rule out any chance of rupturing of aneurysm inside.

Embolization :

Embolization is minimal invasive treatment that involves placing a metal coil inside the aneurysm to block its further growth. Atreiovenous malformation can also be repaired using this procedure. Prior to the procedure the patient’s blood clotting level and Blood Pressure are checked along with other functions.

A thin tube known as catheter is inserted into an artery of the arm or leg which is then passed into the area of aneurysm through imaging guidance. Subsequently coil made of platinum with fine diameter is placed within the blood vessel where ballooning has developed and is anchored. This coil would prevent further blood flow into the aneurysm thus preventing leakage.

• Risk involved :

Though it is an invasive procedure, still there is possibility of getting infected. For some people it can cause block at some other place in the brain developing fresh aneurysm. The coil may not work well as expected.

Surgical clipping :

This is done under general anesthesia and it takes 4-6 hours or even more depending on the complexity of location and aneurysm size. Open craniotomy is done by opening the skull and the scalp and metal clipping is placed at the site of aneurysm to block the further blood flow and leakage.

• Risk involved :

Blood clot can develop at the site where clip is placed, swelling of brain can occur, seizure or stroke can happen and infection can develop on the brain. For some people brain surgery can affect or alter their way of speech, language, vision and coordination and mental balance. The side effects can be short lived or permanent.

Both the procedure mentioned above can damage the neighboring blood vessel causing bleeding or spasm. Not all the aneurysm carries high risk. There are people who lead a normal life with aneurysm. Often they do not cause any symptoms and is detected while doing MRI/CT scan of the brain for some other purpose.

Prognosis :

Outcome of brain aneurysm is increasing nowadays due to advanced medical care and minimal invasive procedures. If the patient receives early treatment before any potential blood leakage or rupture there is high chances of survival.