Dr. Dre's Brain Aneurysm Puts New Spotlight On Condition. Equipment To Save Lives Is Here In Maryland
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Hip hop superstar Dr. Dre said he's doing great and recovering at a Los Angeles hospital after suffering a brain aneurysm last week.
In an Instagram post, hip hop's first billionaire said he should be home soon after being admitted last Monday for the aneurysm.
Dr. Paul Singh, the director of neurovascular surgery at MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center, likens an aneurysm to a balloon.
"If we were to inflate a balloon, the bigger we inflate it, well those walls of the balloon get weaker and weaker," he said.
If an aneurysm -- which Singh said is a dilating of a blood vessel -- gets bigger, it can burst, bleeding into the brain. That can be "devastating," he said.
There are a number of tell-tale signs to catch an aneurysm before it bursts.
Among them are "the worst headache of your life," Singh said.
MedStar Franklin Square has one of only three machines in Maryland with the revolutionary technology to treat an aneurysm.
"All it takes is a very small incision either in the leg or in the arm to navigate this catheter all the way up there," he explained.
That catheter works to block off the aneurysm.
"If we do that before it ever bleeds, well, we've saved your life," Singh said.