A Berry Aneurysm, Also Known as an Intracranial Haemorrhage or a Saccular Haemorrhage

A berry aneurysm, also known as an intracranial haemorrhage or a saccular haemorrhage, is a weakness in the blood vessel which allows the blood to pool into a sack, which looks similar to a berry, thus weakening the vessels which can cause rupture or haemorrhage resulting in a stroke. As the nurse caring for a patient who has suffered from an aneurysm it is important to understand the psychosocial dynamics of caring for the patient as well as integrating care, end of life decisions and working with a multidisciplinary team. Understanding the causes and risk factors associated with an intracranial aneurysm are key pieces of information for the nurse to have as this will help in assessment, diagnosis and treatment implementation (Matfin, 2009). Differentiating between cardiac and brain death is also important for the nurse to understand as this will help them explain to families and help to understand key issues associated with organ donation (Geraghty, 2005).

The bleeding from a subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) can enter into the ventricles or into the brain tissue (Laskowski-Jones, 2008). An aneurysm is defined as ‘intracerebral haemorrhage, which is bleeding within the brain caused by a rupture of a vessel’ (Laskowski-Jones, 2008). This ‘dilation, bulging, or ballooning out of part of the wall of a vein or artery in the brain’, this cerebral aneurysm has many risk factors and causes (Schonfeld & McMullen 2008). These ‘weak spots’ (Reesaul, 2010) are usually found at the connection of two or more arteries, which then balloon out under the pressure of the blood running through them and cause an aneurysm (Reesaul, 2010). The sac like dilation of a berry aneurysm is usually found in the Circle of Willis (Matfin, 2009), most commonly in the cerebral circulation (Schonfeld & McMullen 2008). The sac like protrusion from the vessel has a narrow neck, bubbles out and is filled with blood; this protrusion is weakened by the pressure placed upon it by the intracranial blood flow (Matfin, 2009). Most intracranial aneurysms’ are asymptomatic and only a small percentage of aneurysms will rupture and bleed causing life threatening complications for the patient, the risk is that the threat of rupturing or bleeding is always there (Schonfeld & McMullen 2008).

Causes associated with a cerebral aneurysm include; infection (Matfin, 2009), hypertension, family history, amphetamine use, trauma, smoking, several genetic determinants such as; sickle cell disease and autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (Schonfeld & McMullen 2008), and arteriovenous malformations (Laskowski-Jones, 2008). This local expanded cluster of abnormal blood vessels, an aneurysm, is classed due to ‘cause, location, and anatomic features’ (Matfin, 2009). Types of aneurysms are classified by the cause, location and anatomic features as well as ‘true’ or a ‘false’ aneurysm. A true aneurysm is where the blood leakage