The Medical Minute: Pipes in the brain as treatment for aneurysms
Friday, December 9, 2011 - 07:31
in Health & Medicine
Brain aneurysms are balloon-like out-pouchings that can develop off of brain arteries. Like balloons, these out-pouchings can burst causing a devastating type of stroke as blood leaks in and around the brain. Many years ago brain aneurysms could only be treated with a major, invasive surgical procedure that involved opening the skull and working around the folds of the brain to place a metal clip across the base of the aneurysm. This procedure usually took several hours, required a hospital stay of about a week and often left patients out of work for several weeks. In recent years, minimally invasive brain aneurysm treatment called aneurysm coil embolization or aneurysm coiling has become increasingly popular.