Brain aneurysm
Overview
A brain aneurysm is a swelling in a blood vessel in your brain. If the aneurysm bursts it can cause a bleed on your brain, but this is rare.
Symptoms
Most brain aneurysms are small and do not cause symptoms. They're often found during a test for another condition. If you have a larger aneurysm, you may get symptoms such as: a headachepain above or around your eyechanges in your vision, such as double visiondizziness and balance problemsnumbness or weakness on 1 side of your facedifficulty concentrating and speakingproblems with your short-term memory If a brain aneurysm bursts, it can cause a bleed on your brain called asubarachnoid haemorrhage. The main symptom is a sudden, severe headache that's sometimes described as a "thunderclap headache".
Causes
It's not always clear what causes brain aneurysms. But things that increase your chances of getting a brain aneurysm include: smokinghigh blood pressurehaving a close relative who has had a brain aneurysman injury to a blood vessel in your braintaking drugs, such as cocainehaving certain genetic conditions, such asautosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD)orEhlers-Danlos syndrome
Treatment
Treatment is not usually needed for small brain aneurysms that are not causing symptoms. This is because they often do not get bigger and have a low risk of bursting. You may just need regular follow-up scans to check if it’s getting bigger.