An aneurysm is a weak spot on an artery wall that balloons out due to pressure from the blood. Aneurysms can be deadly: When a brain aneurysm bursts, it releases blood into the spaces of the brain, causing a hemorrhagic stroke.
"The standard treatment for an aneurysm is to surgically clip the blood vessel in the brain to stop the blood flow to the aneurysm," explained Gabriel Gonzales Portillo, M.D., assistant professor of neurosurgery at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. "The surgery can be extremely difficult because the clip could stop or reduce the blood flow of an important vessel, which then can lead to impaired mental ability, brain damage or even death," he said.In the past, neurosurgeons relied primarily on subjective measures, such as visual inspection, to decide if the clips were properly placed, or they would order an intra-operative angiogram, a diagnostic procedure using dyes and X-rays to visualize blood vessels. While accurate, an angiogram has its risks and can add at least 60 minutes to the surgery, said Dr. Gonzales Portillo. "The patient may develop a stroke if a vessel is occluded while waiting for the X-rays to come out," he said.
The perivascular flow probe Dr. Gonzales Portillo co-developed with a neurosurgeon from the University of Illinois at Chicago can be applied directly on the cerebral vessels surrounding the aneurysm to measure blood flow. The probe can tell the neurosurgeon almost immediately whether the clip is positioned properly or needs adjustment. "If vessel flow compromise is detected, the clip can be repositioned within a couple of minutes," Dr. Gonzales Portillo said. "The procedure is simple, safe and reliable." A weak spot on the wall of the blood vessels in the brain is believed to be a degenerative defect; however, the weak spot also may be caused by a genetic or congenital defect. Although cerebral aneurysms occur more commonly in adults than in children and are slightly more common in women than in men, they may occur at any age. As many as 10-15 million Americans may have intracranial aneurysms at some point in their lifetimes. (EDITORS NOTE: Video of the device is available and patient interviews - a brother and sister - can be arranged by calling Jo Gellerman at 626-7301.)
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