What is Cerebral Aneurysm? China's President Xi Jinping suffering from Cerebral Aneurysm- Know Symptoms, Causes and Treatment

Cerebral Aneurysm xi: China's President Xi Jinping is reportedly suffering from 'Cerebral Aneurysm' and was hospitalised last year to treat the same. A cerebral aneurysm is an abnormal dilation of an artery, wherein the blood vessel can expand and rupture without warning and cause a hemorrhage. 

The Chinese President is reportedly getting treated with traditional Chinese medicines, as he prefers it over surgery that softens the blood vessels and shrinks aneurysm. The report of his illness comes as he is seeking a historic third consecutive term in office later this year. 

There have had been many speculations over Xi Jinping's health as he has largely avoided meeting the foreign leaders since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. He had a noticeable limp when he had visited Italy and France in March 2019 as well. He had also delayed his appearance during a public address in October 2020 and his slow speech and consistent cough had fueled speculations over his ill health.

Xi Jinping is currently focused on stabilising the Chinese economy that has been under a lot of strain due to spike in oil and gas prices and disruption in supply due to Russia-Ukraine conflict and China's strict lockdowns to maintain its zero-COVID-19 policy.

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Cerebral Aneurysm Symptoms

Most cerebral aneurysms do not show any symptoms till they become very large or rupture and small aneurysms generally will not produce symptoms. 

A large cerebral aneurysm may put pressure on the surrounding tissues and nerves causing:

-Numbness

-Weakness

-Pain above and behind the eye

-Dilated Pupil

-Vision Changes or Double Vision

-Paralysis on one side of the face

A ruptured cerebral aneurysm may cause:

-Sudden and extremely severe headache

-Nausea

-Stiff Neck 

-Sensitivity to Light

-Seizures

-Temporary Loss of consciousness 

-Cardiac arrest

-Leak small amount of blood into the brain causing sentinel bleeding. 

Cerebral Aneurysm Causes

Cerebral aneurysms form when the walls of the brain arteries become thin and weak. The aneurysms typically form at the weakest sections, at the branch points in arteries. Cerebral aneurysms may be present right from birth or they are caused from an abnormality in an artery wall.

Following factors are believed to contribute to the formation of cerebral aneurysms: 

-Hypertension (high blood pressure)

-Smoking 

-Congenital (genetic) predisposition

-Complication from some types of blood infections

-Injury/ trauma to blood vessels

Cerebral Aneurysms Treatment

Not all cerebral aneurysms require treatment, as some very small ones that don't pose a risk of rupture may be left alone and monitored regularly to detect any growth. The treatments for unruptured cerebral aneurysms that have not shown risky symptoms may have potentially serious complications and need to be weighed against the predicted rupture risk.

The doctors consider a range of factors while determining the best treatment option for an unruptured aneurysm including its size, type and location and risk of rupture and also the affected individual's age, health and medical history and the risk of treatment. 

The main treatment options include surgery, endovascular treatments or other therapies to manage symptoms and prevent damage from unruptured and ruptured aneurysms.

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