Allegheny University Hospitals Preventing Strokes Weak, ballooned-out sections of artery walls, called aneurysms, can rapture inside the head, causing a stroke. A new device, called the Gulglielmi Detachable Coil, makes it possible to fill up aneurysms and prevent strokes without the need for surgery. A catheter is guided through arteries to the mouth of the aneurysm. Aneurysms often are located where arteries branch apart.
Doctors can use a wire to reposition the coils as necessary.
Once the aneurysm is filled with coil and clotted blood, a tiny electrical charge is applied, severing the coils from the positioning wire. The positioning wire and catheter are removed. An aneurysm in Patricia Dsida's head appears as a dark blob in the agiogram at left. After the aneurysm is filled with coils, the X-ray dye that fills the blood vessels can no longer enter the aneurysm, making the aneurysm nearly invisible in the angiogram above.