Kim Kardashian has been diagnosed with a small brain aneurysm, she revealed on Thursday's season premiere of Keeping Up with the Kardashians.
“There's what looks like a small aneurysm there.” Kardashian says in the episode, in footage of her undergoing a scan.
“Wow,” replies her sister Kourtney Kardashian Barker.
Kardashian did not respond to requests for comment.
Here's what you need to know about aneurysms.
What is an aneurysm?
An aneurysm occurs when an artery swells into a ball shape. This occurs when blood pumping through a blood vessel stretches weak or thin artery walls.
Aneurysms can occur anywhere in the body, but they most often occur in the aortathe largest blood vessel in the body that carries blood away from the heart.
If an aneurysm ruptures, it can cause serious problems, including death. But having an aneurysm doesn't necessarily mean it will rupture.
Aneurysms are “more common than you think,” and people can spend their entire lives with one without any complications, says Dr. Nina Moore, a neurosurgeon at the Cleveland Clinic.
Most aneurysms are asymptomatic unless they press on nerves or change shape, and so are not regularly checked, Moore said.
This makes it difficult to say how many people have aneurysms.
“Many natural history studies may not actually know the full incidence and number of aneurysms because we don't just test everyone,” she said. “If we had checked everyone, I'm sure we would have found a lot more.”
American Heart Association It is estimated that 3% to 5% of the US population suffers from brain aneurysms.
There are no recommendations for screening for aneurysms in all adults. US Preventive Services Task Force recommends that men who smoke between the ages of 65 and 75 undergo a one-time screening for aortic aneurysm.
What causes a brain aneurysm?
A number of conditions cause weakening of the arteries, which can lead to brain aneurysms, known as cerebral aneurysms.
Cerebral aneurysms are more common in women, and the risk increases. after menopauseaccording to National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Most cerebral aneurysms occur in adults between 30 and 60 years of age.
“The best described risk factors include susceptibility [family history of aneurysm]high blood pressure, smoking, inflammation,” said Dr. Laura Stein, assistant professor of neurology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York.
What happens if a brain aneurysm ruptures?
If a brain aneurysm ruptures, it may cause a strokebrain damage, coma or even death.
It can also cause severe pain, with people describing it as “the worst headache of their life” or “a banging headache,” Moore said.
The size and location of the aneurysm determine how deadly it is. The most lethal aneurysm ruptures occur in the brain, killing about a third of patientsshe said.
“When a blood vessel bleeds in the head, there is a much higher risk of having a very serious problem just because the brain is enclosed in a fixed space,” she said.
Aneurysms in the front part of the brain are less lethal, she said.
Can brain aneurysms be treated?
Aneurysms are detected using medical imaging tests, including CT scans, MRIs, or ultrasounds.
If doctors find an aneurysm, they first assess how problematic it will be—in other words, how likely it is to rupture.
If an aneurysm is found in a healthy patient and does not show high-risk features, doctors will monitor it and check for signs of growth or other abnormalities over time.
Stein said most people with brain aneurysms find them “by accident” and not because they are looking for them.
“This is a very common incidental finding for most people. They never have symptoms of this disease and they die with it, but not because of it,” she said.
If an aneurysm is at high risk or ruptures, there is “a whole range of treatment options,” Moore said.
Doctors can clamp an intact aneurysm and stop the flow of blood to the bladder, restoring the wall of the blood vessel. They can also repair the wall by inserting a graft.
When an aneurysm bursts, Moore said, pinching or clotting – filling the bladder with wire – effective treatment methods.
Stein said that people with a family history of ruptured aneurysms or people with medical conditions that put them at high risk should undergo routine screenings and that people should not undergo routine screenings if they do not meet this criterion.
“In the general population, they rarely become symptomatic,” Stein said. “We do not treat asymptomatic intracranial [brain] aneurysms. We monitor them with scans to make sure they don't change over time. And most people with an intracranial aneurysm do not require any intervention.”
