Norma Wooley of St. Charles, Ill., was at work when she began slurring her words. Her mouth and eyelid drooped, and she had a headache that felt like someone was hitting her on the back of her head with a baseball bat. An ambulance took her to a local hospital, and she was transferred to Loyola.
Norma had a cerebral aneurysm, a weak spot in a blood vessel that balloons out and fills with blood. About six million Americans — one in 50 people — have brain aneurysms that could rupture. Norma's aneurysm was roughly one-fourth inch across and shaped like a gumball. It could have burst at any time and caused a debilitating or fatal stroke. "My brain was ready to explode," she said.
Traditional open-brain surgery, which involves cutting a large opening in the skull to repair aneurysms, is highly invasive, and recovery can take months. Many patients wind up with cognitive deficits that can, for example, make it impossible to do complex jobs.
Luckily for Norma, Loyola University Health System's John Whapham, MD, used a less-invasive technique that is becoming increasingly common in brain surgery. Loyola's neurologist inserted a catheter (thin tube) in an artery in Norma's leg and guided it up to her brain. The catheter released tiny platinum coils into the bulging aneurysm, effectively sealing it off. Between 80 and 90 percent of brain aneurysms can be repaired with less-invasive catheters. "She went home the next morning with a band-aid on her leg," Dr. Whapham said.
Dr. Whapham is part of a new generation of neurologists who are using catheters to repair aneurysms, open clogged arteries, extract blood clots and repair blood vessel malformations in the brain. He also opens blocked carotid arteries in the neck. Catheter technology, originally developed for heart surgery, has been modified for narrower and more challenging blood vessels in the brain. "There has been a huge evolution in devices over the last five years," says Dr. Whapham. "Technology is getting better by the week."
Norma Wooley's successful treatment illustrates the benefits of performing traditional brain surgery with catheters rather than scalpels. In Norma's case, she checked into Loyola University Hospital for brain surgery on a Monday and was home, cured, on Tuesday.
Norma also gives credit to Dr. Whapham. "I put my life in his hands, and he gave it back to me," she said.
LOYOLA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SYSTEM
