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Medical Author:

Benjamin Wedro, MD, FACEP, FAAEM

Benjamin Wedro, MD, FACEP, FAAEM

Dr. Ben Wedro practices emergency medicine at Gundersen Clinic, a regional trauma center in La Crosse, Wisconsin. His background includes undergraduate and medical studies at the University of Alberta, a Family Practice internship at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario and residency training in Emergency Medicine at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.

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Medical Editor:

Charles Patrick Davis, MD, PhD

Charles Patrick Davis, MD, PhD

Dr. Charles "Pat" Davis, MD, PhD, is a board certified Emergency Medicine doctor who currently practices as a consultant and staff member for hospitals. He has a PhD in Microbiology (UT at Austin), and the MD (Univ. Texas Medical Branch, Galveston). He is a Clinical Professor (retired) in the Division of Emergency Medicine, UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, and has been the Chief of Emergency Medicine at UT Medical Branch and at UTHSCSA with over 250 publications.

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Many brain aneurysms have no symptoms at all and are only discovered incidentally during an autopsy after the patient has died from another cause. Brain aneurysms affect approximately 5-10% of the population and only half of all aneurysms leak or rupture.

Symptoms of the aneurysm occur when blood leaks into the subarachnoid space. Some blood can also leak into surrounding brain tissue causing symptoms as well.

The primary symptom of a leaking aneurysm is pain. It is usually a sudden, intense headache that might be associated with nausea, vomiting, and photophobia or light sensitivity. There may be a sentinel headache that occurs from an initial small blood leak and, if ignored, the next headache can be catastrophic with the patient presenting with a decreased level of consciousness or coma.

A stiff neck commonly occurs shortly after the onset of headache and is due to blood in the subarachnoid space causing irritation to the meninges, the tissues that line the brain and spinal cord.

Other symptoms may mimic a stroke and can include weakness and numbness of one side of the face or body, difficulty speaking, and vertigo.

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