Risk of Aneurysm Rupture Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Risk of Aneurysm Rupture Study
IRAS ID
276144
Contact name
Diederik Bulters
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
R&D Department, University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 2 months, 31 days
Research summary
Brain aneurysms are found in approximately 3% of people at the age of 55. While most cause no symptoms, some burst (rupture) and cause a type of brain haemorrhage called subarachnoid haemorrhage. 30% will die of this, and many more are left disabled. Aneurysms can be treated prophylactically to prevent rupture, however, these treatments risk serious complications, including stroke and death. Because relatively few aneurysms actually rupture, it can be very difficult for patients and doctors to decide if these treatments should be undertaken.
This would be much easier if we knew exactly how often aneurysms burst, or even better, could identify specific aneurysms at higher or lower risk. Unfortunately, how often aneurysms burst is controversial, and our ability to predict which specific ones are likely to rupture is poor. Currently our best way to estimate what risk an aneurysm poses is to use the PHASES risk prediction tool. It is, however, based on highly controversial data, 80% of which came from countries that are believed to have a different risk of aneurysm rupture to the UK. It is therefore subject to a lot of disagreement as to its validity and applicability for use in British patients.
The aim of this study is, therefore, to assess if the PHASES tool is applicable to patients in the UK, and how it can be improved. Patients with an unruptured brain aneurysm will be identified by clinical teams from neurosurgical units in England, Wales and Scotland and baseline information about their aneurysms collected from their hospital records. These will then be searched against national databases of hospital admissions and deaths to identify which patients had a subsequent aneurysm rupture. We will then calculate the actual rupture rates to determine the accuracy of the PHASES score and see how it can be improved.
REC name
South Central - Hampshire A Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/SC/0064
Date of REC Opinion
18 Mar 2021
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion