With important medical advances throughout the neurosurgical/neurological and endovascular fields, treatment for brain aneurysms is more promising than it was several years ago. There are more effective and less invasive treatment options for patients, who in years past, would have been told they had inoperable aneurysms. Decisions regarding management of an unruptured brain aneurysm are based on the careful comparison of the short- and long-term risks of aneurysmal rupture, compared to the risk of intervention whether that be surgical clipping or endovascular management.
If an aneurysm is detected but has not ruptured, there are more options: either treatment or observation. Once an aneurysm has already ruptured, the options are either open surgery or an endovascular approach. Either is recommended to be performed as early as possible after hemorrhage, to prevent rebleed of the aneurysm. The goal of either treatment is to prevent rebleeding by sealing off the aneurysm so that the aneurysm is totally obliterated with either a clip or coil.
Doctors consider several factors when deciding which treatment option is best for a particular patient.
These include:
Patient age
Size of aneurysm
Location of aneurysm
Shape of aneurysm
Neurological condition of patient
Other medical conditions
Previous history of SAH or familial aneurysm
