What is an aneurysm? A doctor explains Dr. Dre’s affliction

Following rapper and legendary producer Dr. Dre’s hospitalisation due to a possible brain aneurysm, The Citizen spoke to a doctor to get a better understanding of an aneurysm.

Dr Charlotte Anne Maistry from Johannesburg’s Leratong hospital explained that an aneurysm was when a section of a blood vessel, usually an artery, develops an area of weakness, causing that area to widen.

“That weakness and dilation is called an aneurysm and can lead to complications, usually in the form of a leak or a rupture in said area. This can obviously cause life-threatening bleeding.

“In this case, the brain bleeding leads to subarachnoid haemorrhaging,” Maistry said.

Maistry said the most common symptoms due to compression of surrounding vessels caused by the bleeding were headaches, facial pain, altered consciousness, seizures, meningeal irritation, symptoms resembling meningism, which is the swelling of the brain-covering layers, and focal neurological deficits resembling a stroke, and loss or blurry vision.

“There can also be respiratory and cardiovascular dysfunction if these control centres are affected by the bleeding.

“The size and the location of the aneurysm is very important. The most common site is at the anterior communicating artery. 34% of subarachnoid bleeds occur here and these are usually silent. They usually don’t present any symptoms before the actual leak or rupture.

“In order to diagnose an aneurysm, when a patient presents with any of the above symptoms, further investigations are needed, since many other conditions can also present with these symptoms.

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“Diagnosis is commonly made through a CT [computerised tomography] scan, which could detect the bleed.

“Management is split into non-surgical, surgical, and endovascular treatment.

“Non-surgical general supportive measures to prevent an aneurysm from rupturing are controlling hypertension with drugs, and preventing seizures with anti-seizure meds.

“Surgical treatment includes micro-surgery which involves putting a surgical clip at the neck of the aneurysm to exclude the aneurysm’s circulation from that of the rest of the brain’s blood vessels.

“Endovascvular treatment  yields even better surgical outcomes, and involves placing a coil around the vessel to support it.”

Meanwhile, AFP reported that Dr. Dre had posted on social media saying that he was doing well and receiving  “excellent” medical care.

The 55-year-old rapper, born Andre Young, is among hip hop’s most influential figures, having risen to commercial fame with the groundbreaking gangsta rap pioneers NWA before crafting the quintessentially West Coast G-Funk sound.

The master behind the careers of greats including Snoop Dogg and Eminem became a billionaire after co-founding Beats Electronics, an audio products company purchased by Apple in 2014.

Compiled by Earl Coetzee. Additional reporting by AFP

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