New device destroys brain aneurysms

More than six million Americans are living with what may be a ticking time bomb in the form of an unruptured brain aneurysm. Most people don’t know they have one until it’s too late. A brain aneurysm ruptures every 18 minutes.

Surgery to address an aneurysm is complicated. Now there’s a new device that is helping to destroy them before it causes a stroke or worse.

Judy Sadler experienced a sudden onset of symptoms that left her terrified. “I woke up one morning and had a really bad bloody nose. So, I took my blood pressure and it was over 200 and I thought, ‘Great.’”

She feared the worst. “’ Am I gonna have a stroke? Am I gonna die?’”

An MRI revealed the problem. It was an aneurysm in the front part of her brain. Dr. Ian Kaminsky, a neurointerventional surgeon with Swedish Medical Center explained she was lucky it hadn’t ruptured. “When that happens, an aneurysm bleeding in the brain, about 10 percent of people die immediately. The next 20 percent will not survive the hospital stay. The next third of patients will have a severe disability, and leaving about a third of people who could make it out of the hospital and return back to their life.”

A brain aneurysm is a bulge coming off a weakend part of an artery. Surgery involves using stents and coils to block its blood supply. Dr. Kaminsky is part of a nationwide clinical trial testing the Contour Neurovascular System. It closes off the aneurysm without relying on stents or coils.

“It opens inside the aneurysm and blocks the flow from going into it because of how tight that mesh density is,” Kaminsky said.

When used on Sadler, it completely destroyed the aneurysm, taking care of her life-threatening problem. Using this device also shortens recovery time. Sadler was back to work in three days.

“I try to do at least 4,000 steps a day. It’s helped me feel better, makes me feel young. I may be 72, but I feel like I’m 35,” Sadler said.