SUNDAY, June 2, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Cerebral aneurysms: For most people, the word signals a sudden, fatal brain bleed that seemingly comes out of nowhere. However, an expert at Penn State Health says that in many cases these brain blood vessel ruptures are spotted early, before they rupture. And even when they do occur, they are not uniformly fatal.
“An aneurysm is like a blister on a water hose,” explained , a neurosurgeon at Penn State Health's Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. “They can happen on any blood vessel in the body.
” The trouble is, as they form in the brain in their earliest stages, most people have no idea they're in any danger. Sometimes, a doctor may spot one in a brain scan conducted for other reasons, Simon said. If a cerebral aneurysm does rupture, about half of the time the event proves fatal, Simon said.
Among those who survive, 68% will experience permanent neurological damage. According to Simon, cerebral aneurysms take the lives of half a million people around the world each year. According to Simon, the simple answer as to what causes a cerebral aneurysm is, “We don’t know.
” Certain risk factors do seem to come into play, however. “We know that they can run in families," he said in a Penn State news release. "We know that they happen more frequently in smokers.
But we see plenty of patients without a family history who do not smoke. Some combination of genetic and environmental factors that we have yet to fully elucidate.” Acco.
