Can you Survive a Ruptured Brain Aneurysm? Part 2of3
When a Cerebral Aneurysms ruptures it can be sudden and with little or no warning. One minute everything is fine and then everything goes bad. The worst part is it does not make any difference where you are, or what you are doing.
Some of the immediate systems are:
1. A severe headache
2. Your vision blurs
3. You lose conscious
Your chances of survival are increased the faster you get treatment for this type of injury. It may sound cryptic, but your chances are a matter of luck. You stand a pretty good chance of suffering minimal damage if you are very lucky. I was very lucky.
A Note: Early diagnosis is vital. A simple MRI can detect a possible problem forming in your head. Insist that your doctor setup an MRI exam if you suffer from severe or constant headaches. My aneurysm was about the size of a grape and would have been easily detected by an MRI long before it ruptured.
A ruptured brain aneurysm leaks blood into the spinal fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord causing a chemical reaction in the blood and the surrounding areas of the brain. This type of a ruptured cerebral aneurysm, also known as a subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is one of the causes of the severe headaches.
REPAIRING THE HOLE IN THE RUPTURED ANEURYSM
How The Ruptured Hole Is Plugged
Detachable Coil Embolization
Treatment for a brain injury of this type depends a great deal on the severity, and location of the injury. A relatively new procedure called "Detachable Coil Embolization" using "Guglielmi Detachable Coils" (GDC) will be used if access to the damaged area can be easily reached by feeding a probe to the area through a main artery. This eliminates the need of opening the skull to gain access to the aneurysm.
Radiologist inserts a tube, called a catheter, into an artery in the leg. They feed the catheter up through the body to the damaged area of the aneurysm. Once in position, a number of small coils are fed through the catheter into the aneurysm. The body responds by forming a blood clot around the coil blocking off the aneurysm.
The detachable coils are little wires that are easily formed into coiling wires. A series of these wires are placed into the affected area and formed into a ball that plugs the hole in the artery.
Try and form this picture in your mind. A glob of worms, 10,15,20 worms, group together forming a tangled mass of worms. This is essentially what a "Detachable Coil" looks like when the doctor completes the task of forming the coils into a plug.
CLIPPING A RUPTURED ANEURYSM
Placing a surgical clip at the neck of a ruptured aneurysm is considered a more traditional way to stop the bleeding from the ruptures area. The highest risk, in my opinion, is that the skull must be opened to gain access to the damaged area.
There is about a 35% risk of the clipped area to start bleeding again within the first two weeks of an injury. This makes it extremely important that surgery is preformed within 72 hours from the time of the rupture. This lessens the risk of the aneurysm bleeding.
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE SURGERY.
Physical and mental damage usually occurs whether the ruptured aneurysm is repaired with coils or clips. The effects are very similar to what a stroke victim suffers.
The recovery process can take months or even years to restore, what is hopefully, normal everyday functions.
A Note: My aneurysm burst 5 years ago. I am still working to regain some physical abilities; some will never be restored.
Part 3 will cover some of the problems that are encountered and ways that I have used to overcome the disabilities.
Some of the immediate systems are:
1. A severe headache
2. Your vision blurs
3. You lose conscious
Your chances of survival are increased the faster you get treatment for this type of injury. It may sound cryptic, but your chances are a matter of luck. You stand a pretty good chance of suffering minimal damage if you are very lucky. I was very lucky.
A Note: Early diagnosis is vital. A simple MRI can detect a possible problem forming in your head. Insist that your doctor setup an MRI exam if you suffer from severe or constant headaches. My aneurysm was about the size of a grape and would have been easily detected by an MRI long before it ruptured.
A ruptured brain aneurysm leaks blood into the spinal fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord causing a chemical reaction in the blood and the surrounding areas of the brain. This type of a ruptured cerebral aneurysm, also known as a subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is one of the causes of the severe headaches.
REPAIRING THE HOLE IN THE RUPTURED ANEURYSM
How The Ruptured Hole Is Plugged
Detachable Coil Embolization
Treatment for a brain injury of this type depends a great deal on the severity, and location of the injury. A relatively new procedure called "Detachable Coil Embolization" using "Guglielmi Detachable Coils" (GDC) will be used if access to the damaged area can be easily reached by feeding a probe to the area through a main artery. This eliminates the need of opening the skull to gain access to the aneurysm.
Radiologist inserts a tube, called a catheter, into an artery in the leg. They feed the catheter up through the body to the damaged area of the aneurysm. Once in position, a number of small coils are fed through the catheter into the aneurysm. The body responds by forming a blood clot around the coil blocking off the aneurysm.
The detachable coils are little wires that are easily formed into coiling wires. A series of these wires are placed into the affected area and formed into a ball that plugs the hole in the artery.
Try and form this picture in your mind. A glob of worms, 10,15,20 worms, group together forming a tangled mass of worms. This is essentially what a "Detachable Coil" looks like when the doctor completes the task of forming the coils into a plug.
CLIPPING A RUPTURED ANEURYSM
Placing a surgical clip at the neck of a ruptured aneurysm is considered a more traditional way to stop the bleeding from the ruptures area. The highest risk, in my opinion, is that the skull must be opened to gain access to the damaged area.
There is about a 35% risk of the clipped area to start bleeding again within the first two weeks of an injury. This makes it extremely important that surgery is preformed within 72 hours from the time of the rupture. This lessens the risk of the aneurysm bleeding.
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE SURGERY.
Physical and mental damage usually occurs whether the ruptured aneurysm is repaired with coils or clips. The effects are very similar to what a stroke victim suffers.
The recovery process can take months or even years to restore, what is hopefully, normal everyday functions.
A Note: My aneurysm burst 5 years ago. I am still working to regain some physical abilities; some will never be restored.
Part 3 will cover some of the problems that are encountered and ways that I have used to overcome the disabilities.
