Experimentally induced cerebral aneurysms as model for non-surgical treatment

This article summarizes the results of our experimental studies on the pathogenesis of cerebral aneurysm. Experimentally induced aneurysms in rats and in monkeys resemble those of human cases both in location and in microscopic structure. By studying early changes of aneurysm development, it is proposed that degenerative changes in the intima caused by haemodynamic stress at vessel branches are the basis for aneurysm formation and aneurysms develop, at least partly, because of defective or decreased healing processes there. By giving the experimental animals blood coagulation factor XIII, which is known to enhance wound healing, a significant amount of intimal proliferation occurred in and around aneurysms. Some aneurysms were completely obliterated. This fact may indicate a possibility of non-surgical treatment of the disease in the future. Suggestive findings in human autopsy cases are also presented.