Donna Heath had been experiencing slight headaches for a couple of weeks. However, as she shoveled snow on March 23, the 26-year-old woman had the worst headache of her life.
"I had never had one like this before," she explains.
After seeking medical attention, Heath learned that she had a brain aneurysm - a swollen and weakened artery in her brain.
Heath, admittedly, was scared when she learned this. "I didn't know what was going to happen."
Aneurysms can form in anywhere in the body, but they are especially troublesome and potentially fatal when they develop in the brain and then burst. This can cut off the brain's normal blood supply and lead to internal bleeding. Even if an aneurysm doesn't burst, it can become so swollen that it presses on neighboring structures, such as nerves and other blood vessels, damaging them.
Previously, neurosurgery, which requires the opening of the skull, was the only method for treating a brain aneurysm. Heath, however, was able to avoid surgery thanks to neurointerventional radiology (NIR), a new procedure available at Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center, in which tiny metal coils were implanted in her brain to strengthen the affected artery.
"We advance a catheter through an artery in the leg and guide it to the brain using a fluoroscope. Then, we maneuver stretched out coils through the catheter to the brain," explains Turgut Berkmen, M.D., a radiologist who is an expert in this procedure. "When in position, the stretched-out coils are released, springing back into shape and reinforcing the weakened artery wall. The coils cause the blood to clot, which prevents further bleeding."
The coils used in NIR are less than a half-inch long and have a diameter as small as one one-hundredth of an inch. They are made out of platinum, a metal that will not rust or degrade over time. Similar devices have been used for decades to stop bleeding in other areas of the body.
Saint Francis is the first hospital in northern Connecticut and Western Massachusetts to offer NIR. Dr. Berkmen, however, points out that not all brain aneurysms can be treated this way.
The shape of the aneurysm and the patient's anatomy determines whether NIR can be used. Stephen Calderon, M.D., the consulting neurosurgeon on Heath's case, explains that in some cases, NIR permits the treatment of patients with aneurysms that otherwise are untreatable.
"For patients of advanced age or in those patients with very poor medical conditions, this offers the possibility of treating aneurysms where surgery might not be applicable," said Dr. Calderon.
For Heath, the entire experience was a bit overwhelming, but she realizes that NIR allowed her to return home 10 days later and resume caring for her son, Eric, who will be 2 years old in May.
"I feel good," she says. "I should be able to do all that I used to do."