The key difference between hemorrhagic stroke and aneurysm is that hemorrhagic stroke occurs when an artery is ruptured due to factors like high blood pressure, trauma, and protein deposits in blood vessel walls, while aneurysm occurs when a weakened artery wall bulges and ruptures due to factors like atherosclerosis and high blood pressure.
Hemorrhagic stroke and aneurysm are two different medical conditions that can affect the brain. Though an aneurysm can cause a hemorrhagic stroke, they are quite different conditions. Moreover, both of these conditions have similar risk factors such as age, uncontrolled high blood pressure, smoking, and personal and family history. Furthermore, they are both medical emergency cases that need immediate medical attention.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is a Hemorrhagic Stroke
3. What is an Aneurysm
4. Similarities – Hemorrhagic Stroke and Aneurysm
5. Hemorrhagic Stroke vs Aneurysm in Tabular Form
6. Summary – Hemorrhagic Stroke vs Aneurysm
What is a Hemorrhagic Stroke?
Hemorrhagic stroke is a type of brain damage caused by bleeding in the brain. This usually occurs after a blood vessel bursts or if brain tissue bleeds. Brain hemorrhages can occur from many conditions that affect blood vessels. The conditions that are related to hemorrhagic stroke include uncontrolled high blood pressure, overtreatment with anticoagulants, bulges at weak spots in the blood vessel walls (aneurysms), trauma, protein deposits in the blood vessel walls, and ischemic stroke. Scientists estimate that about 13 % of strokes are hemorrhagic strokes. There are two main types of hemorrhagic stroke: intracerebral hemorrhage (bleeding that occurs inside the brain) and subarachnoid hemorrhage (bleeding that occurs between the brain and the membranes covering it). The symptoms of hemorrhagic stroke are sudden, severe headache, numbness on one side of the body, vision problems, confusion, dizziness, weakness in the arms or legs, difficulty with balance, and difficulty with speech.
Figure 01: Hemorrhagic Stroke
Hemorrhagic stroke can be diagnosed through physical examination, imaging tests (CT scan, MRI), blood test, lumber puncture, and electroencephalogram (EEG). Furthermore, the treatment options for hemorrhagic stroke include emergency measures (controlling high blood pressure), surgery, surgical clipping, coiling (endovascular embolization), surgical AVM removal, stereotactic radiosurgery, and rehabilitation.
What is Aneurysm?
An aneurysm occurs when a wall of the artery weakens and causes an abnormally large bulge. It is caused mainly due to atherosclerosis and high blood pressure. Normally, an aneurysm can take place in any part of the body. However, it is most common in the brain and aorta. A brain aneurysm is called a cerebral aneurysm and is often formed in the blood vessels that lie deep within the brain. Aorta aneurysm is in the chest cavity and is also known as a thoracic aortic aneurysm. The symptoms of an aneurysm include sudden, incapacitating headache, numbness or weakness in one or both limbs, blurred or double vision, memory issues, a drooping eyelid, seizure, stiff neck, nausea, and vomiting.
Figure 02: Aneurysm
Moreover, an aneurysm can be diagnosed through physical examination, CT scan, MRI, ultrasound, cerebrospinal fluid test, and angiogram. Furthermore, an aneurysm is treated through surgery (brain aneurysm surgery), surgical clipping, endovascular treatment, and flow diverters; other treatments include pain relievers, calcium channels blockers, interventions to prevent a stroke from insufficient blood flow, anti-seizure medications, ventricular or lumbar draining catheters and shunt surgery, and rehabilitative therapy.
What are the Similarities Between Hemorrhagic Stroke and Aneurysm?
- Hemorrhagic stroke and aneurysm are two different medical conditions that can affect the brain.
- An aneurysm can cause a hemorrhagic stroke.
- Both of these conditions have similar risk factors such as age, uncontrolled high blood pressure, smoking, and personal and family history.
- They need immediate medical attention.
- They are treated through specific surgery and rehabilitation therapy.
What is the Difference Between Hemorrhagic Stroke and Aneurysm?
Hemorrhagic stroke occurs when an artery is ruptured due to factors like high blood pressure, trauma, and protein deposits in blood vessel walls, while an aneurysm occurs when a weakened artery wall bulges and ruptures due to factors like atherosclerosis and high blood pressure. Thus, this is the key difference between hemorrhagic stroke and aneurysm. Furthermore, a hemorrhagic stroke mainly affects the brain, while an aneurysm mainly affects the brain and heart.
The below infographic presents the differences between hemorrhagic stroke and aneurysm in tabular form for side-by-side comparison.
Summary – Hemorrhagic Stroke vs Aneurysm
Hemorrhagic stroke and aneurysm are two different medical conditions that have the same risk factors. They can affect the brain. Hemorrhagic strokes occur when an artery is ruptured due to factors like high blood pressure, trauma, and protein deposits in blood vessel walls. Aneurysms occur when a weakened artery wall bulges and ruptures due to factors like atherosclerosis and high blood pressure. So, this summarizes the difference between hemorrhagic stroke and aneurysm.
Reference:
1. Ellis, Mary Ellen. “Hemorrhagic Stroke: Symptoms, Treatment, and Long-Term Outlook.” Healthline, Healthline Media.
2. “What Is an Aneurysm? Types and Causes.” WebMD.
Image Courtesy:
1. “1602 The Hemorrhagic Stroke-02” By OpenStax College – Anatomy & Physiology, Connexions Web site, Jun 19, 2013. (CC BY 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Coiled PCA residual aneurysm arteriogram” By Promod Pillai, Aftab Karim and Anil Nanda – Technical challenges to surgical clipping of aneurysmal regrowth with coil herniation following endovascular treatment – a case report, Journal of Medical Case Reports 2007, 1:168. doi:10.1186/1752-1947-1-168 (CC BY 2.0) via Commons Wikimedia
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