In this video, Dr. Karimi discusses brain aneurysm coiling, shedding light on this treatment that should only be done by experienced vascular neurosurgeons who are skilled in all available treatments.
Transcript
Brain aneurysm coiling is a fairly common procedure in which we treat a brain aneurysm to essentially block the blood flow into the aneurysm and decrease its risk of bleeding permanently.
An aneurism coiling is an endovascular procedure so it’s done in a minimally invasive fashion through the patient’s own blood vessels using very small catheters and very small wires to allow us to navigate into the aneurysm and treat it.
Aneurysm coils are typically made of platinum they’re fairly complicated devices there’s a lot of technology in these coils.
Ultimately we want to pack the aneurysm about 20 to 30% full of metal in order to cause it to thrombose and clot and therefore arrest any blood flow into and out of the aneurysm.
These are very soft platinum coils. They’re designed specifically for brain aneurysms.
There’s a lot of technology behind these devices to keep them safe and effective in the long-term treatment of a brain aneurysm.
There’s some patients who require more than just coiling.
Some patients require a stent which is a hollow mesh tube in the normal blood vessel to support the coils, keep them in the aneurysm, and prevent any blockage of the normal blood vessels from occurring when the coils are placed.
Brain aneurysm coiling is typically performed under full general anesthesia completely asleep and often takes anywhere from 1 to 3 hours depending on the complexity of the procedure.
Typically after the coiling, the patients are observed overnight in the Intensive Care Unit and in many times go home the following day.
The recovery after brain aneurysm coiling is fairly quick.
Within a week or two, life is fully back to normal with minimal or no restrictions at all.
In cases where a stent is needed in order to support the coils, those patients are typically on blood thinners for 3 to 6 months after the procedure.
