One in 50 people will develop an aneurysm at some point in their lives. It's a weak, bulging blood vessel that, if ruptured, can kill a person or leave them disabled. A new technique is using a special glue to fix aneurysms before it's too late.
"I woke up with double vision,ββ said Heidi Lamar. ββIt was pretty scary."
For the last eight years, Lamar lived with a ticking time bomb in her head -- an aneurysm. Last fall it started to grow. She needed to take action.
Heidi found Dr. Nasser Razack, who is using a special glue called Liquid Onyx to prevent aneurysms from rupturing.
During the procedure, doctors feed a catheter through an artery in the leg, up into the brain. The glue is slowly injected into the aneurysm and hardens in place. A balloon protects the rest of the brain from the glue and seals the aneurysm shut.
Another treatment option called coiling fills the aneurysm with wire, but it only fills 30 to 40-percent of the space. Onyx fills it 100 percent. Dr. Razack says it's almost like a silly putty-like substance that really goes into an aneurysm and fills the contours of that aneurysm, just like filling a glass with liquid.
The glue has risks including traveling to the wrong place in the brain or the blood vessel could rupture during treatment.
Dr. Razack says while Onyx is a good treatment for some aneurysms, surgery is also a reliable option. Dr. Razack has used the glue in more than 30 procedures.
