Got a CTA after suffering from terrible headaches for a couple of weeks and they found 2 aneurysms. Went to a neurosurgeon who said he doesn’t see anything wrong on that test and offered a DSA to make sure. He said my brain was “squeaky clean” on the DSA and that I never have to get another scan in my life. Sounds weird to me that a radiologist who’s supposed to be an expert in interpreting CTA would know less than a neurosurgeon. Fast forward it’s been 6 months and I still have terrible headaches (every freaking day). Does anyone have a similar experience? I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do at this point. Just live with the pain and pray to God my head doesn’t explode one day and I bleed out? I did read in some research that CTAs have over 20% false positives in smaller Aneurysm. However in this case my neurosurgeon didn’t even see it on the first test and the radiologist did. Any advice is appreciated.
I would say get second (and even third) opinion from neuros. You’re having symptoms, you need to find the root cause.
azurelle
Yeah at this point it would be a third opinion since the two scans were done by different doctors. I guess I need someone to break the tie.
I did MRI overseas , they found a small aneurysm , on first visit my neurosurgeon wasn’t sure at all that it’s aneurysm , he did angiogram but found one . So I am very thankful to that radiologist who saw my MRI and was able to see an aneurysm . later they did CTA too to see full picture .,
I trust my neurosurgeon , I think those doctors are high professionals , but in your case of course second opinion is urgently needed , show all test scan results , the daily bad headache is not normal , ask them to do MRI , may be you need to see neurologist …
There must be a reason for the headache …I hope you find out soon and get help .
The thing is that angiogram is considered the gold standard. MRI is not going to find an aneurysm if the angiogram didn’t because that’s the scan doctors rely on for the final word before surgery. It’s more invasive also that’s why they don’t do it unless they have to. The only reason they use CTA and MRA is because they’re a lot quicker no computations and no recovery necessary. I did schedule an appointment for a different neurosurgeon/neuroradiologist for tomorrow, we’ll see what he has to say. I tried going for a run last week and my head exploded for two days after. I was sick this week and noticed that my headache gets worse everytime I cough. Also gets worse when I move my head down or to the sides. It used to be my entire head and it still is sometimes but now it’s mostly on my right side.
Even the gold standard is not infallible. My husband’s aneurysm did not show up on CT and CTA but was finally revealed on MRI. A doctor told me It can depend where the aneurysm is, how well it shows up.
Thanks Judy. You’re comparing CTA to MRA however I had a DSA done where they literally stick a catheter in your leg artery and go up to your brain from the inside to inject dye.
What I mean is if they gave me an MRA and found something it would still not count because they rely on the results from traditional angiography before surgery. That’s why I doubt they’ll give me one. Correct me if I’m wrong
So went to another doctor who told me he also didn’t see anything on the first scan and nothing on the second scan. Said radiologists are better than neurosurgeons at interpreting results but he’s better than most radiologists and he knew the radiologist who thought I had something on the first scan and said that he’s definitely better than him.
Well it’s a good news … but I hope you find the reason of your headache !