Discussing a brain aneurysm can easily turn into a grim topic because 500,000 people a year will die from a brain aneurysm rupture. Of those who do survive a rupture, 66% will suffer a permanent neurological deficit. But these dire statistics could change for the better with awareness and research! 

More Attention on Brain Aneurysms Could Reduce Fatalities!

Investing more time and resources into brain aneurysm detection, awareness and research is important because a ruptured brain aneurysm still has a high outcome of negative effects such as death, disability and cost. There are 6.5 million people in the US alone that develop a brain aneurysm but because awareness is low and misdiagnosis is high, they may not know they have one until it ruptures. That’s 1 in 50 people in the US who could be proactively monitoring a brain aneurysm in order to prevent it from rupturing. In return, reducing the number of fatalities and disabilities! 

Why Aren’t Professionals Ordering Brain Scans More Often?

In many cases, a brain aneurysm will develop silently or will be misdiagnosed because the symptoms they cause masquerade as other medical conditions such as migraines. If patients and doctors don’t know about brain aneurysms and are not educated on what they should be looking out for, a life-saving brain scan may never be ordered. We need our medical community to be a step ahead of a rupture through education and awareness. 

Many professionals also don’t order routine brain scans for brain aneurysms because it can be costly and there is an absence of screening protocols except for a very short list of known causes and risk factors. Understanding brain aneurysms better will help close knowledge gaps making it easier for professionals to order the proper test(s). Additionally, new and improved tests can be developed to detect them that are less expensive and less invasive. 

 Brain aneurysm problems/knowledge gaps include but not limited to:

• It is not well understood how or why an aneurysm develops
• Risks associated with unruptured brain aneurysm treatments are not known with certainty
• There’s an absence of screening protocols
• Current screening procedures are expensive, deterring many people from getting the scan

Can Brain Aneurysm Breakthroughs Happen and Close Knowledge Gaps?

With the correct funding, brain aneurysm breakthroughs are bound to happen! Brain aneurysm research is underfunded and progressing slowly, but there are glimmers of hope through research grants awarded by the Brain Aneurysm Foundation. Each year, the Brain Aneurysm Foundation allocates donation money to help professionals pursue research projects that are directed at early detection, improving treatment modalities and technological advances.

Listen here to what some of the researchers have been working on: