Choosing Treatments

Joanne: Choosing treatments

When doctors found a small aneurysm in Joanne’s brain she had to decide what to do. She researched her choices and made a decision. “I just felt more comfortable with the less invasive approach,” she said.

Joanne, a 56-year-old psychologist, had been having severe headaches. An MRI showed a small aneurysm in her brain that her doctor thought could be causing the problem. Joanne consulted two surgeons. The first wanted to reach the aneurysm by threading instruments through a vein in her groin up to her head. The second wanted to drill in through her skull. After doing some research on her own and weighing the risks and benefits of each approach—the second fix was considered a bit riskier but possibly more effective—Joanne chose the first route. “The higher risk of going in through my skull frightened me. Sometimes you just have to go with your gut feeling, and that’s what I did.”

More about choosing treatments.

Back to the Top