Brain Aneurysms

A life-threatening bulge in a weakened blood vessel in the brain requires immediate, expert treatment. We provide it through interventional radiology.

Interventional radiology procedures are a new and fast-growing area of medicine designed to help repair brain aneurysms. Guided by X-ray, CT, ultrasound or MRI scanners, specially educated physicians feed catheters through blood vessels and arteries or directly into an organ. The catheters provide a channel to deliver treatment—in the form of coils, chemicals, plastic particles and even glue—to a precise area of the body.

There are no large incisions, and less pain, shorter recovery time and fewer risks than in traditional surgery. In some cases we can even achieve better results. This is an increasingly important way to diagnose and treat serious medical conditions of the brain and many other parts of the body.

Interventional radiologists also help provide better stroke care. They can insert a catheter directly into a blood clot in the brain of a stroke patient to deliver clotbusting drugs. This lifesaving therapy is done in only about 20 medical centers nationally. Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network is one of them.

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