Ruptured Aneurysm in 1974.

[Lhrlovesmar]

When my Aneurysm Burst in 1974 (I was 17 tears old), I spent 7 weeks in the hospital, alot of that in ICU. (I can't remember any of this, my beautiful wife, who was my steady girlfriend then, witnessed ALL of this and has told me what happened). She was told that since it had already burst, it "bled out", because of this they didn't "clip" it. Has anyone ever heard of such a thing?
                                                                                                LeRoy

[skydnsr]

I am so sorry for what has happened to your mother.  I think this is a situation where the only people who can advise you are the doctors on site.  So many different things can happen in a situation like this that any individual's case is almost unique.  There are not any "one size fits all" solutions.  Sometimes surgery can be performed to remove a clot, but sometimes not.  If this cannot be done, or if the doctors feel that an operation would not improve the patient's prospects for recovery, then the only option I am aware of is to provide supportive care and wait and see what happens.  Sometimes a person's own recuperative powers are amazing, but sometimes the situation is not surviveable.  Sometimes the outcome is somewhere in between, and the person survives but with significant disability.  Again, I am so sorry your mother had this.

[skydnsr]

An aneurysm is an enlargement or swelling of part of a blood vessel.  It sounds like you had what they call a "berry aneurysm," which is shaped like a berry on a stem.  The blood vessel that it grows off of is like the main stem of a plant, and there is a globular-shaped aneurysm that is attached to the main stem by a short, tiny stem.  (You can google it and probably find a pic, if this description is not clear.)  If the aneurysm is found before it ruptures, sometimes a brain surgeon can go in and place a small metal clip around the tiny stem, between the berry and the main stem.  That cuts off the blood supply of the aneurysm, and it just dies -- or maybe the surgeon cuts it off and disposes of it after he clips it; I'm not sure about that part.  If the aneurysm is inoperable or if it is not known about, it can rupture, and then blood from the main artery that it is attached to will "bleed out" until it clots.  The problems is that everything that is actually supposed to be inside your skull is tightly packed, and there is no extra room for a big blood clot, so clots often create pressure that will damage the surrounding brain tissue.  Also, the bleeding process can take the normal blood supply away from surrounding tissues that need it, and that causes more brain damage.  If you survived something like this, you are "bery" lucky.

[sym29]

my mother has ruptured aneurysm right now and she is in comatose in the ICU, she is 51 yrs old. doctors said she has poor chance of survival. how did you survive with you ruptured aneurysm? we really need you opinion on this.