Note to
our readers:
July/August
2019
VOLUME 1 | NO. 12
Senior Connections HJ.COM
This is a combined July/
August issue, and we’ll be
back to our regular monthly
cycle in September.
Independence woman undergoes
innovative aneurysm procedure
GABE LICHT
Editor
“You go inside the aneurysm
and fi ll it with soft coils to pre-
vent it from rupturing,” Kayan
said. “The problem is, if you’re
doing this with an aneurysm with
a wide neck or at a branch point
with two arteries coming off it,
the coils can come off, plug up the
branch, and cause a stroke.”
That was the concern with
Skoog-Edholm’s aneurysm, as it
was both wide-necked, and at a
branch point.
For that reason, Kayan opted to
wait for the FDA to approve the
WEB device. That occurred in
January, and Skoog-Edholm un-
derwent the procedure in Febru-
ary.
In the meantime, Kayan treated
a smaller aneurysm that Skoog-
Edholm had by utilizing the coil
embolization.
Living with an aneurysm was
an unnerving experience, partly
because of Skoog-Edholm’s fam-
ily history.
“My grandma, aunt, and cous-
ins all passed away from rup-
tured aneurysms,” she said. “ . .
. It was scary. You get depressed.
Nancy Skoog-Edholm underwent an innovative procedure to treat an an-
I’ve always been so active. I felt so eurysm.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
weak.”
A headache may have saved an Independence
woman’s life.
“It felt like someone was squeezing a belt around
my head,” Nancy Skoog-Edholm said. “My blood
pressure was off the charts. My sister took me to
Ridgeview. They did a CT scan. They were able to
see an aneurysm.”
Meningitis was causing the headache that Sep-
tember day, but the discovery of the aneurysm
was more dier.
It led to Skoog-Edholm being one of the fi rst
people in the country to receive the Woven Endo-
Bridge, or WEB, and the fi rst person to undergo
the procedure at Abbott Hospital.
Dr. Yasha Kayan performed the procedure.
Kayan explained that an aneurysm is a weak
spot in the artery that can balloon outwards, and
it’s more common than most people think.
“Probably 5 percent of the population has a
brain aneurysm,” Kayan said. “Most don’t rup-
ture. There are some that are at a higher risk of
rupturing.”
Based on that risk, doctors determine the most
appropriate treatment.
One is surgical clipping, where a surgeon blocks
blood fl ow to the aneurysm by applying a small
metal clip to its base. That method requires the
opening of the skull to access the brain and blood
vessels.
“Now, we can treat them noninvasively from in-
side the vessels,” Kayan said.
The traditional treatment for a brain aneurysm
is with coiling.
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