A ruptured cerebral aneurysm is a possible life threatening event. A person that has a cerebral aneurysm may experience excruciating headaches due to a bulge in an artery. This bulge can form anywhere on the brain and most commonly is called the 'berry' aneurysm, "it has a well-defined stem and berry-like outpouching of the medial layer of the arterial wall." (Mower-Wade) For years neurosurgeons have been using a procedure called clipping to remove the aneurysm; however a new method of treatment for aneurysms has recently been introduced. Coiling is this new method of treatment, which to patients "seems safer and would spare a major operation."(To Clip or to Coil) Patients and doctors are now faced with a difficult decision when it comes to deciding which method of treatment to pursue.
When a person is diagnosed with a cerebral aneurysm, their choices are limited. Some may choose to do nothing about it and hope that the cerebral aneurysm does not burst or begin to leak.
English: Resected MCA Aneurysm filled with multipl...
Diagram of cerebral aneurysm
Angiograph of an aneurysm in a cerebral artery. Ne...However, according to the Nursing article, a patient should undergo surgery as soon as possible to remove the aneurysm. A ruptured cerebral aneurysm is a "life threatening-condition" that "affects 25 to 30 thousand people in the United States each year. One out of every 10 dies before reaching the emergency department. Half of those who survive die of complications; only about a fourth of those who recover have mild deficits or none at all." (Nursing)
Even today scientists and doctors are uncertain about the cause of cerebral aneurysms and why they rupture. The Nursing article provides a hypothesis; that "extrinsic, congenital, and genetic factors may be involved." They state that "because the incidence increases with aging and aneurysms frequently develop at sites where homodynamic stresses are greatest, they may be acquired lesions." In the...