Brain aneurysm: Compare Costs for a treatment abroad

About the disease

Brain aneurysm is a cerebrovascular disorder during which cerebral artery can burst. Cerebral artery is located in brain. In some cases disease goes by unnoticed and in that case patient lives for decades, unaware of cerebrovascular disorder in his brain. Early accurate detection of the disease implies treatment strategy, which can cure the brain aneurysm completely.

Stages and level of danger of brain aneurysm are classified according to their size:

• Little (size up to 3 mm)
• Normal (15 mm)
• Large (16-25 mm)
• Giant (greater than 25 mm)

Brain aneurysm if not treated can lead to such serious complication as intracerebral hemorrhage. Intracerebral hemorrhage may occur only if patient has brain swelling, when the blood disintegrates and damaged areas of the brain can not function properly anymore.

Women have this disease more often than men. Patients over 30-60 years old are more prone to it.

Cerebrovascular disorder is always triggered by certain factors. Although genetic aspect plays a leading role, aneurysm can also be triggered by headaches. Some people are simply prone to cerebral aneurysms. because their brain can not cope with either stress or addiction to different sorts of drugs.

Other risk factors are as follows:

• Hypoplasia of the renal arteries
• Polycystic kidney disease
• Drug addiction
• Smoking
• Alcoholism
• Obesity
• Stressful situations
• Oral contraceptives, that were sold over-the-counter and not prescribed by professional gynecologist

Symptoms

• Nausea as a reaction to certain products and smells, which earlier were percepted normally
• Weakness after simple workout or fast walks
• Blurred vision, especially when person tries to look at the horizon
• Dizziness after long running or after the night`s sleep
• Photophobia
• Problems with hearing
• Speech disorders: person mumbles, stutters and can not pronounce certain words and vowels
• One-sided numbness of face and body
• Behavioral disorders, when person can suddenly become sad, elated or depressed and his mood shifts in the matter of five minutes;
• Psychological and cognitive disorders are also a result of behavioral disorders
• Headache of varying intensity, which can sometimes be mistaken for migraine
• Weakness in legs (appears suddenly during walking or running)
• Peripheral facial nerve paresis. In this case the person can not move muscles of his face, sometimes he can not even smile or express amazement, sadness and other emotions
• Irreversible brain damage

Diagnosis

• The most widely used diagnostic method is angiography. Angiography is basically an X-ray agent, which is injected into artery. This is an absolutely innovative procedure, because before that X-ray could detect problems only in skeleton, while now it can research the human body on a deeper level. The procedure allows to evaluate condition of blood vessels, detect brain disease and give exact diagnosis. In can also be diagnosed by MRI, CT scan and resonance imaging.
• CT scan is a painless procedure, that can detect arterial problems. During magnetic resonance imaging patient is irradiated by special waves, after which three-dimensional image of the brain arteries is displayed on the computer screen. 

Treatment

• Partial resection and coil embolization aims to diminish aneurysm.
• Surgical clipping isolates aneurysm from blood vessels, so that it will not affect blood circulation. According to Mayfield Clinic.com, which is a medical site, surgical clipping is most effective for ruptured and unruptured aneurysms,  because this method prevents danger of future brain ruptures. 

Other surgeries are done with microscope and microsurgical equipment and they last for several hours, while their success is not guaranteed. During microsurgical surgery doctor tries to strengthen artery wall and eliminate chances of further bleeding in the damaged area of the brain. Postoperative complications are mainly associated with spasms of blood vessels and development of cerebral hypoxia. Lethal outcome may occur in case aneurysm is huge in size.

It is impossible to completely eliminate the possibility of future brain ruptures. Nevertheless active lifestyle and balanced diet raise chances of long life expectancy by several times. Person also needs to avoid any head injuries. This rule must be especially followed by those who have hereditary predisposition.