Richard Scolyer: Managing a Brain Aneurysm while facing glioblastoma

Professor Richard Scolyer shared a post on X:

“I’ve recently been having some more medical work up of my brain. An aneurysm (sac like out pouching) was identified coming off one of my cerebral arteries (anterior communicating) more than a year ago on my brain MRI scans (when my brain cancer came to light). These arteries are critical in supplying blood & therefore oxygen & other nutrients to the brain.

If it suddenly bursts/ruptures, there are often catastrophic consequences. Because of the poor prognosis of my subtype of glioblastoma (IDH WT, unmethylated & a host of other poor prognostic features), my medical team & I decided to wait & revisit the issue in a year. As I’m still not “pushing up daisies” & functioning pretty well, it’s time to revisit the aneurysm issue.

I recently had some specialised scans & discussed the issue with experts. In view of its site, size, and my medical history, the risk of it suddenly rupturing has been estimated (including using an online risk calculator) as between 0.9-5% over the next 5 years. The treatment options to fix it up are not without risk either.

Weighing things up with my aneurysm & my glioblastoma, I’m happy to sit tight without repair of the aneurysm for a little longer & watching it closely on every MRI scan.”

Source: Professor Richard Scolyer/X

Professor Richard Scolyer AO is a Senior Staff Specialist in Tissue Pathology and Diagnostic Oncology at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, and Co-Medical Director at Melanoma Institute Australia. He is also a Conjoint Professor at Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney. In June 2021, he was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia for his distinguished service in melanoma and skin cancer research. Additionally, he is Vice Chair of the Melanoma Expert Panel for the AJCC Cancer Staging System and co-leads the Australian Melanoma Genome Project.