Brain aneurysm repair is a surgical procedure to correct an aneurysm, a weak area in the wall of a blood vessel that causes the blood vessel to bulge or balloon out. It can leak blood and cause a stroke or bleeding into an area around the brain (also called a subarachnoid hemorrhage).
See also: Aneurysm in the brain
You and your doctor will decide the best way to perform surgery on your aneurysm. There are two common methods used to repair an aneurysm:
During aneurysm clipping:
During endovascular repair of an aneurysm:
If an aneurysm in the brain ruptures, it is an emergency that needs medical treatment, and often surgery. Endovascular repair is more often used when this happens.
A person may have an aneurysm but have no symptoms. This kind of aneurysm may be found when an MRI or CT scan of the brain is done for another reason.
Risks for any anesthesia are:
Possible risks of brain surgery are:
Signs of neurological problems include:
This procedure is often performed on an emergency basis. If it is not an emergency:
A hospital stay for endovascular repair of an aneurysm may be as short as 1 to 2 days if there was no bleeding beforehand.
The hospital stay after craniotomy and aneurysm clipping is usually 4 to 6 days. When bleeding or other complications occur before or during surgery, the hospital stay can be 1 to 2 weeks, or more.
You will probably have an x-ray test of the blood vessels in the brain (angiogram) before you are sent home.
Ask your doctor if it will be safe for you to have MRI scans in the future.
After successful surgical treatment for a bleeding aneurysm, it is uncommon for it to bleed again.
The outlook also depends on any brain damage that occurred from bleeding before, during, or after the surgery.
Most of the time, open surgery or endovascular repair is more likely to prevent a brain aneurysm that has not caused symptoms from becoming larger and breaking open.
Aneurysm repair - cerebral; Cerebral aneurysm repair; Coiling; Saccular aneurysm repair; Berry aneurysm repair; Fusiform aneurysm repair; Dissecting aneurysm repair; Endovascular aneurysm repair - brain
Brinjikji w, Lanzino G, Cloft HJ, Rabinstein A, Kallmes DF. Endovascular treatment of very small (3 mm or smaller) intracranial aneurysms: report of a consecutive series and a meta-analysis. Stroke. 2010;41:116-121.
Meyers PM, Schumacher HC, Higashida RT, Barnwell SL, Creager MA, Gupta R, et al. American Heart Association Indications for the performance of intracranial endovascular neurointerventional procedures: a scientific statement from the American Heart Association Council on Cardiovascular Radiology and Intervention, Stroke Council, Council on Cardiovascular Surgery and Anesthesia, Interdisciplinary Council on Peripheral Vascular Disease, and Interdisciplinary Council on Quality of Care and Outcomes Research. Circulation. 2009;119:2235-2249.
Patterson JT, Hanbali F, Franklin RL, Nauta HJW. Neurosurgey. In: Townsend CM, Beauchamp RD, Evers BM, Mattox KL, eds. Sabiston Textbook of Surgery. 18th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2007:chap 72.
Reviewed by: David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; and Daniel B. Hoch, PhD, MD, Assistant Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.
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