MUSC neurosurgeons have been selected to offer a new and effective treatment to patients suffering from complex brain aneurysms. The recently FDA-approved technology, called the Pipeline Embolization Device, gives physicians the ability to treat some of the most complex and dangerous brain aneurysms with the use of minimally invasive techniques.

The Pipeline Embolization Device, shown inserted in a weakened blood vessel of the brain, gives physicians the ability to treat some of the most complex aneurysms.

"The Pipeline Embolization Device allows us to treat life-threatening brain aneurysms that were otherwise difficult or untreatable," said MUSC Comprehensive Stroke and Cerebrovascular Program co-director Raymond D. Turner IV, M.D. "Large and giant brain aneurysms are a rare, but often fatal problem that had no good treatment. At MUSC, we now have that ability to treat these patients and save their lives."

MUSC is the only center in South Carolina and one of 10 in the nation doing the procedure.

The device, about the size of a dime.

The treatment is focused on reconstruction of the weak blood vessel harboring the brain aneurysm. The Pipeline Device may offer improved patient results with a safe and effective treatment of large, wide-necked aneurysms, which until now has been an unmet clinical need. It is estimated that one in 50 Americans have a brain aneurysm, an abnormal ballooning of a portion of an artery in the brain due to a weakened blood vessel wall.