Genetic variants associated with brain aneurysm

Three new genetic variants are associated with increased risk of intracranial aneurysm, reports a study published online this week in Nature Genetics.

Intracranial aneurysm, also called cerebral or brain aneurysm, is a balloon-like bulging of an artery in the brain, that may leak or rupture. Such bleeding in the brain often leads to severe neurologic damage and death. Intracranial aneurysms occur in approximately 2% of the general population; and of those who experience aneurismal hemorrhage, over 50% will die within 30 minutes.

Murat Gunel and colleagues performed a genome-wide analysis of nearly 6,000 patients with intracranial aneurysm from Europe and Japan. They discovered three new genetic loci that are associated with risk of intracranial aneurysm.