Brain aneurysms

Cerebral aneurysms are the dilation of the cerebral arteries, by a defect in the wall of these, which with the constant blood flow progresses and ruptures, originating its most frequent form of presentation, subarachnoid hemorrhage, this being a potentially serious condition, and manifests as an extraordinarily intense headache, accompanied by vomiting and in the most severe cases, loss of consciousness. It is an emergency that requires immediate treatment.

In other cases, aneurysms are diagnosed by less severe symptoms, such as severe headache, compression of some cranial nerves, or incidentally by an imaging study for another reason. Treatment in these cases may be delayed.

The options for treating aneurysms, again depend on their size, location and whether they are ruptured or not. There is endovascular treatment, which consists of introducing a catheter through the femoral artery, obtaining live images and introducing materials that close the defect of the artery wall (embolization).

Another option is open surgery, which consists of doing a craniotomy, reaching the aneurysm and closing it with a clip (microsurgery).

In some cases a combination of both techniques is required, the ultimate goal is to close the aneurysm defect while preserving intact circulation through the rest of normal cerebral arteries.