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By definition, an aneurysm is swelling of the blood vessel. They commonly occur in an artery or vein after a heart attack. An aneurysm can cause a blood clot, which can lead to major damage to the heart and brain.
Identifying an aneurysm is very difficult. There are very little symptoms that can be detected. The symptoms change depending on where the artery is located:
A Thoracic aneurysm produces a dry cough; pain in the chest neck, back and abdomen. The pain may be sudden and sharp.
Abdominal aneurysm produces back pain, appetite and weight loss, and a pulsating mass in the abdomen.
Aneurysm in a leg artery causes poor circulation in the leg, with weakness and pallor or swelling and bluish color. A pulsating mass may appear in the groin or behind the knee.
Aneurysm in a brain artery produces headache, weakness, paralysis or numbness, pain behind the eye, vision change or partial blindness, and unequal pupils.
Aneurysm in a heart muscle causes heartbeat irregularities and symptoms of congestive heart failure. 1
An X-ray, MRI or CAT scan finds most aneurysms, or it is found after it ruptures.
The development of a cerebral aneurysm is still unknown. They are rarely found in people under the age of twenty, and are more likely in older people. A lack a muscle tissue will, over time, develop into an aneurysm. Smoking, high blood pressures, obesity, extreme alcohol drinking, trauma, infection and family history can also produce a cerebral aneurysm.
There are few procedures to treat unruptured aneurysms. When dealing with an unruptured aneurysm, the clipping of an intact and accessible aneurysm is usually a procedure of low risks.2 This surgery is recommended for more large and obtainable aneurysms. Another procedure is to preformed by navigating a small tube or catheter into the aneurysm from the blood vessel in the leg artery under X-Ray guidance. Tiny platinum coils or tiny latex or Silicone balloons are used to fill the aneurysm.3 One of the latest procedures to cure a brain aneurysm is by using the ONYX Liquid Embolic System (LES). The procedure is as follows: the ONYX liquid quickly transforms into a solid, yet flexible, polymer mass, completely and permanently sealing off the defective portion of the vessel. This enables full blood flow to resume through the parent vessel with less risk of rupture and subsequent stroke.4
I have learned a lot about aneurysms by doing this research report. I choose this topic because my grand mother suffered from a ruptured cerebral aneurysm and died, on Thanksgiving, two weeks after she was diagnosed. She had complained about loss of eye site, and numbness. If I had known then what I know now, she might be alive today.
Bibliography
2 www.columbia.edu/~mdt1/cerebfaq.txt
3 cpmcnet.colombia.edu/dept/cerebro/aneurysm.html
4 news.excite.com/pr/000111/ca-mtix-aneurysm
Word Count: 458
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