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"I was miserable," said Brunson, 39, of Pocatello, Idaho. "Every night I went to bed with a headache, and I'd wake up the next morning with a headache. It was just constant."
Despite receiving physical therapy and injections for her pain, Brunson's agony raged on. When she went in for a CT scan, she was floored by what her doctor found. She had yet another health problem, perhaps the most troubling one of all: a blister off the side of a blood vessel in her brain, known as an aneurysm. Ironically, it's unlikely that the aneurysm was causing Brunson's headaches.
"Only rarely will an aneurysm cause pain or other symptoms without rupturing," said [Min Park, M.D.](<http://www.ksl.com/ad_logger/ad_logger.php? location=http://healthcare.utah.edu/fad/mddetail.php?physicianID=u0975247&sponsor=Utah target=_blank rel=>), a neurosurgeon at University of Utah Health Care. "By and large, aneurysms are discovered during a workup for an unrelated issue.
This lack of symptoms means that most of the six million people with an aneurysm in the U.S. (1 in 50) don't know they've got one, and they may never find out since 50-80 percent of aneurysms never rupture during a person's lifetime.When they do rupture, it can be catastrophic.
40 percent of ruptured aneurysms result in death, and 66 percent of people who survive will have a permanent neurological deficit, according to Brain Aneurysm Foundation.
Brunson was terrified. She'd heard the horror stories — the excruciating headaches and sudden death.
"I thought I was going to die. I really did," she said. "The only two people I've ever heard of who had an aneurysm died."
She got good news though when she arrived at the [University of Utah Health Care Clinical Neurosciences Center](<http://www.ksl.com/ad_logger/ad_logger.php? location=http://healthcare.utah.edu/neurosciences/&sponsor=Utah target=_blank rel=>) to meet with Dr. Park. Huge progress has been made in just the last five years for treatment of aneurysms thanks to the debut of the Pipeline Embolization Device.
Photo credit: University of Utah Healthcare
Previously, the two main methods for fixing aneurysms were open surgery and "coiling," but these techniques couldn't be used on many aneurysms that were deemed inoperable because of their size or location in the brain. Before 2011, the year the FDA approved the Pipeline, repairing Brunson's aneurysm would have been a much trickier task, perhaps even impossible.
"It's revolutionary," said Park, one of two doctors in Salt Lake City certified to do the procedure — the other is his colleague [Phil Taussky, M.D.](<http://www.ksl.com/ad_logger/ad_logger.php? location=http://healthcare.utah.edu/fad/mddetail.php?physicianID=u0666230&sponsor=Utah target=_blank rel=>) "It's added a tremendous tool for treating the most difficult aneurysms, and it works amazingly well."
The Pipeline is unique because it directs the flow of blood away from the aneurysm, and over time the blood clots and reabsorbs back into the body, Park said. It's also minimally invasive and uses endovascular techniques, meaning the only incision is in the femoral artery of the upper thigh.
"I'm so lucky," said Brunson, who underwent the procedure in April. "I'm not lucky I have a herniated disc, but I'm lucky that it made it so they scanned my brain. I could've gone years without anyone catching it."
She stayed one night in the hospital and took two weeks off work, although she said she could've gone back after one week. She stayed home an extra week because of the bruising caused by blood thinners.
Brunson said her recovery wasn't painful, and her only scar is a tiny mark that looks like a fingernail pressed into her skin. While she still has headaches that are tied to her herniated disc, they're not nearly as painful as they once were.
It's been a stressful journey, but Brunson is grateful to put her aneurysm scare in the rearview mirror.
"I'm totally amazed that they can do things like that now," she said.
To find out if your aneurysm would benefit from the Pipeline procedure, call 801-585-6065 to schedule an appointment.
