Treatment of Aneurysm
Treatment for an aneurysm depends on its location and severity, but may include:

Cerebral aneurysm – is repaired either by coils or stent insertion, or by surgery where the aneurysm has been clipped. If the aneurysm has ruptured, then you will need to stay in hospital for up to 21 days because of potential complications, including vasospasm and hydrocephalus. Around one third of all people who experience a ruptured cerebral aneurysm die, and less than 30 per cent get back to a pre-rupture state.

Thoracic aortic aneurysm – requires drugs to control high blood pressure and surgery to repair the aneurysm if necessary. Sometimes, the nearby heart valve may also need fixing during the operation. Most people with a ruptured thoracic aortic aneurysm die within minutes.

Abdominal aortic aneurysm – requires drugs to control high blood pressure and surgery to repair the aneurysm if necessary. The mortality rate is more than 50 per cent if the aneurysm ruptures.

Surgical repair of aneurysms
If the aortic aneurysm is less than five cm wide, it is usually left untreated, but closely monitored (in case it gets bigger). If it is larger than five cm, the aneurysm is surgically repaired. In most cases, the aneurysm is cut out and the hole is plugged with an artificial graft.

Depending on the location of the cerebral aneurysm, it will be treated either surgically with clipping, or by using fine platinum coils inserted in the aneurysm via an angiogram, which is a radiological procedure used, in this case, to close the aneurysm and preserve the normal flow of blood in the brain.

Treatment of a ruptured cerebral aneurysm is an urgent procedure, but treatment of an unruptured aneurysm can be performed semi-electively.