Before the Procedure:

This procedure is often performed on an emergency basis. If it is not an emergency:

• Tell your doctor or nurse what drugs or herbs you are taking and if you have been drinking a lot of alcohol.
• Ask your doctor which drugs you should still take on the day of the surgery.
• Always try to stop smoking.
• You will usually be asked not to eat or drink anything for 8 hours before the surgery.
• Take the drugs your doctor told you to take with a small sip of water.
• Your doctor or nurse will tell you when to arrive.

After the Procedure:

A hospital stay for endovascular repair of an aneurysm may be as short as 1 to 2 days if there was no bleeding beforehand.

The hospital stay after craniotomy and aneurysm clipping is usually 4 to 6 days. When bleeding or other complications occur before or during surgery, the hospital stay can be 1 to 2 weeks, or more.

You will probably have an x-ray test of the blood vessels in the brain (angiogram) before you are sent home.

Ask your doctor if it will be safe for you to have MRI scans in the future.

Outlook (Prognosis):

After successful surgical treatment for a bleeding aneurysm, it is uncommon for it to bleed again.

The outlook also depends on any brain damage that occurred from bleeding before, during, or after the surgery.

Most of the time, open surgery or endovascular repair is more likely to prevent a brain aneurysm that has not caused symptoms from becoming larger and breaking open.