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Had an aneurysm? Stop smoking.
Smoking is a known risk factor for the development and rupture of a cerebral brain aneurysm - a weak, ballooning spot in a blood vessel in the brain.
Now, researchers from Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Drexel University and elsewhere have have found that a history of smoking increases the chance an aneurysm will reoccur after the treatment they examined.
The study looked at records of 110 patients who underwent coil embolization, in which a tiny coil implanted at the weak spot becomes covered by a blood clot, thus blocking off the aneurysm.
After an average of 24 months, tests showed that the aneurysm was again bulging in 14 men and 32 women. Of these 46 patients, 35 - 76 percent - had a history of smoking.
The study, which was released this morning for publication in the April issue of the Journal of Neurosurgery, was too small to detect whether patients who quit smoking after coil embolization reduced their risk of aneurysm recurrence.
Nonetheless, the researchers conclude that smokers with cerebral aneurysms should be "aggressively counseled" to kick the habit.
