Intracranial stents sound like the first step toward becoming a cyborg; they are metal mesh springs installed in blood vessels to help keep the vessels open and prevent the vessels from rupturing. You would have to have your skull cut open and go through brain surgery, and then spend a lot of time receiving neurological services and treatment that accompany such a procedure. However, when compared to three neurological conditions that could result if you do not have the stents placed, the stents are not terrifying at all. 

Aneurysms

Aneurysms are weak blood vessels that suddenly rupture. They can rupture because you have high blood pressure, or because you are under constant stress. They can also occur for no apparent reason at all beyond the fact that the vessels were just too weak to handle their job anymore. The last reason aneurysms occur is that there is a significant blockage in front of or behind the blockage, and the blood just keeps trying to push through but builds into a swollen pocket in the brain instead. When it blows, your life is at risk because the brain is losing a lot of blood and oxygen at the same time.

Sub-Arachnoid Hemorrhage 

If the word "arachnoid" does not terrify you enough, this condition should. Without the stents to prevent the aneurysms, one or more aneurysms explode, and the blood bleeds out inside your skull between the protective covering over the brain and your skull, creating a bleeding pattern that looks a lot like a spider on an MRI. This creates intense pressure that can severely damage your brain and turn you into a human vegetable, if you survive it. If caught soon enough, a neurologist can drill a hole into the brain, drain the pooled blood to alleviate pressure, and hopefully prepare your head for emergency brain surgery.

Hydrocephalus

Literally, "water head," you might know it best as "water on the brain." It is a bit of a misnomer, since it is not water, but cerebrospinal fluid filling the very narrow space between the brain and the skull. The pressure builds until your brain is compressed into a very dangerous and very lethal position. This terrifying condition is the final stage and final result of an aneurysm, and if you do not pass out from the excruciating pain by this point, you are going to wish you did. If you do, you might not wake up, and that thought is far scarier than placing tiny little mesh springs in the blood vessels in your brain.

To learn more about neurological services and treatment, speak with a treatment center in your area.

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