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CNI Stroke Program
Education & Information
Facts about Brain Aneurysm
A brain aneurysm, also called a cerebral or intracranial aneurysm, is an abnormal bulging outward of one of the arteries in the brain. Often this wall is weakened by disease, injury or an abnormality present at birth. Aneurysms are often caused or made worse by high blood pressure. It is estimated that up to one in 15 people in the United States will develop a brain aneurysm during their lifetime.
Symptoms
Because the symptoms of brain aneurysms can also be associated with other medical conditions, diagnostic neuroradiology is regularly used to identify both ruptured and unruptured brain aneurysms.
Ruptured Cerebral Aneurysm Symptoms
Sometimes patients describing "the worst headache in my life" are actually experiencing one of the symptoms of brain aneurysms related to having a rupture. Other ruptured cerebral aneurysm symptoms include:
- Nausea and vomiting
- Stiff neck or neck pain
- Blurred vision or double vision
- Pain above and behind the eye
- Dilated pupils
- Sensitivity to light
- Loss of sensation
Unruptured Cerebral Aneurysm Symptoms
Before an aneurysm ruptures, patients often experience no symptoms of brain aneurysms. In about 40 percent of cases, people with unruptured aneurysms will experience some or all of the following cerebral aneurysm symptoms:
- Peripheral vision deficits
- Thinking or processing problems
- Speech complications
- Perceptual problems
- Sudden changes in behavior
- Loss of balance and coordination
- Decreased concentration
- Short-term memory difficulty
- Fatigue
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According to the American Society of Interventional and Therapeutic Neuroradiology (ASITN):
- Approximately 0.2 to 3% of people with a brain aneurysm may suffer from bleeding per year.
- The annual incidence of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage in the U.S. exceeds 30,000 people; 10-15% of these patients will die before reaching the hospital and over 50% will die within the first thirty days after rupture. Of those who survive, about half suffer some permanent neurological deficit.
- Brain aneurysms can occur in people of all ages, but are most commonly detected in those ages 35 to 60.
- Women are actually more likely to get a brain aneurysm than men, with a ratio of 3:2.
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