Brain aneurysms are often discovered when it's too late. When they rupture.... stroke, brain damage or death can follow. Catching the problem in time usually means cutting open the skull. But as Robyn Haines reports in today's Healthy Living, a new procedure is giving some patients a leg up.
Faith Mitchell is a 70 year old southern bell enjoying what life has to offer. But it wasn't long ago her life took a scary turn. After a nasty fall....painful headaches set in. A catscan revealed an aneurysm lodged behind her eye in a very deep part of the brain, a dangerous and almost inoperable spot.
When neurologist doctor Scott Standard saw faith's scans, he decided to use a newly FDA approved pipeline stent to remove her aneurysm. With the pipeline stent, everything is done through an artery in the leg.
Once inserted, the stent expands against the walls of the artery and across the aneurysm, cutting off blood flow. The blood remaining in the blocked-off aneurysm forms a clot -- which reduces the chance for it to grow or rupture. For now, the pipeline stent is only FDA approved for certain types of complicated aneurysms. The stent also cuts recovery time from 6 months to only 10 days
Brain aneurysms are often discovered when it's too late. When they rupture.... stroke, brain damage or death can follow. Catching the problem in time usually means cutting open the skull. But as Robyn Haines reports in today’s Healthy Living, a new procedure is giving some patients a leg up.
Faith Mitchell is a 70 year old southern bell enjoying what life has to offer. But it wasn't long ago her life took a scary turn. After a nasty fall....painful headaches set in. A catscan revealed an aneurysm lodged behind her eye in a very deep part of the brain, a dangerous and almost inoperable spot.
When neurologist doctor Scott Standard saw faith's scans, he decided to use a newly FDA approved pipeline stent to remove her aneurysm. With the pipeline stent, everything is done through an artery in the leg.
Once inserted, the stent expands against the walls of the artery and across the aneurysm, cutting off blood flow. The blood remaining in the blocked-off aneurysm forms a clot -- which reduces the chance for it to grow or rupture. For now, the pipeline stent is only FDA approved for certain types of complicated aneurysms. The stent also cuts recovery time from 6 months to only 10 days.
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