The Deadly Nature of Aneurysms

An aneurysm is a silent but deadly threat to your health. If an aneurysm and a blood vessel in the brain become too large, it can rupture, causing a stroke. However, because most aneurysms have no symptoms, they are usually found by chance during a doctor’s visit. At Advanced Heart & Vascular Associates, Brooksville, FL, cardiologist Nadda Chadda, MD, provides comprehensive diagnosis and treatments of aneurysms, helping patients find relief from symptoms of the condition.

Aneurysm 101

An aneurysm is a defect in our brain’s vessel walls that causes a growth that is almost like a blister. Depending on the amount of rupture, you can have a little bit of blood come out, like a leaky faucet. The patient may then notice symptoms like headaches and stroke-like symptoms such as seizures, where they experience numbness of the hands and feet or perhaps numbness of the face.

It can be a frank rapture, where there is just an opening of the blister and a lot more blood is released, causing complications of the brain itself. This rapture is known as an aneurysmal rupture, which causes a hemorrhagic stroke.

Who is More at Risk for an Aneurysm?

• Aneurysms can form in all sorts of patients, depending on age, gender, and race. However, the most common cases will be in older patients, those above 60 years.

• Females also tend to have aneurysms more than men by a ratio of 2:1.

• Family history is also among the risk factors for an aneurysm.

• Additionally, there is high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes.

• A sedentary lifestyle causes an aneurysm to develop faster.

There Are a Range of Treatment Options for Aneurysms 

The treatments can include three options:

There is conservative management for aneurysms because not all of them need to be treated. Some of them are small and can be followed very closely. Other treatment options include clipping, which is the standard way that has been around for over 100 years, and endovascular, which is relatively new.

What to Expect During Treatment

Your doctor will access the artery in the arm or leg. Afterward, with a network of catheters, he or she will access the aneurysm from the inside.

There are two techniques of eliminating aneurysms at this stage:

1. They can be embolized- This will occlude the aneurysm. 

2. Putting in a stent to bypass- At times, if needed, you can put a stent to bypass the flow or follow the treatments at every juncture of the aneurysm.

Tests Done to Determine if an Aneurysm is Suspected

If you are concerned about getting an aneurysm, especially if there is a strong family history of having one, it is crucial to visit your doctor as soon as possible.

The first thing to start with is a plain CAT scan, and the reason for it is that the scan will not show that you have an aneurysm but will indicate that you may have had other previous strokes, which could lead to further workup.

Another diagnostic option is to do a CT angiogram. If, for some reason, a patient cannot undergo this diagnostic option, say if they have kidney issues and cannot handle the contrasts, then the best option is to use MRI.

Schedule an appointment at Advanced Heart & Vascular Associates to receive the best care for your aneurysm.