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MEDICAL ANIMATION TRANSCRIPT: Your heart pumps blood to your brain through blood vessels in your neck. These blood vessels, called arteries, branch into even smaller arteries that bring blood to your brain cells. Some of these small arteries join each other to form a loop known as the Circle of Willis. The walls of the arteries contain special muscle and elastic layers that help them adapt to the blood pulsing through them. Sometimes diseases, injuries, or birth defects can cause a weak spot in the wall of the arteries in the Circle of Willis. These weak spots usually form where arteries branch. Over time, the pressure of blood flowing through the artery stresses the weak spot further. The constant blood pressure can cause the weak spot to balloon out and form a bulge called a cerebral aneurysm. This cerebral aneurysm is the most common type called a saccular or berry aneurysm. Over time, the aneurysm may grow and push on nearby brain tissue or nerves. Blood may also leak from the aneurysm. If its wall gets too thin, the aneurysm can burst or rupture and spill high-pressure blood into the space around your brain. The blood presses on your brain tissue and can cause injury to your brain cells. Chemicals in the escaped blood can irritate other brain arteries and cause them to narrow. As a result, your brain can swell, leading to serious brain injury. Common symptoms of a ruptured cerebral aneurysm include sudden severe headache, sometimes called a thunderclap headache, problems with your vision, such as blurred or double vision, nausea, and vomiting, a stiff or painful neck or confusion. An unruptured cerebral aneurysm may not cause symptoms but large unruptured aneurysms may cause headache and pain near or behind one eye, double or blurred vision, a drooping eyelid, and numbness or weakness on one side of your face. A ruptured cerebral aneurysm is a medical emergency. If you are having symptoms, seek immediate medical attention. If you have a ruptured cerebral aneurysm, your doctor may recommend surgical clipping or endovascular coiling. In surgical clipping, your surgeon will make an opening in your skull near your aneurysm and place a small metal clip onto the stem that connects the aneurysm to your artery. The clip blocks blood flow into your aneurysm. In endovascular coiling, your doctor will put a plastic tube called a catheter into a large artery in your groin. Using a live x-ray view, your doctor will advance the catheter through your arteries until it reaches the aneurysm. Through the catheter, your doctor will insert one or more flexible wires into your aneurysm. The wires will coil up and cause a blood clot to form inside your aneurysm, which will block off the aneurysm from the rest of your artery. In a similar manner, if you have an unruptured cerebral aneurysm, your doctor may recommend surgical clipping or endovascular coiling. In addition, if your aneurysm is small and not causing pain or other symptoms, your doctor may observe your aneurysm for a period of time before performing either of these procedures.
"For us, the defining feature of effective demonstrative evidence is
whether, by itself, the piece will tell the story of the case. Medical legal
Art provides our firm with illustrations and animations that are clear and
persuasive. Their exhibits tell the story in a way that allows the jury to
understand a very complex subject, very quickly."
James D. Horwitz Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder, P.C. Bridgeport, CT
"Thank you for the splendid medical-legal art work you did for us in the
case of a young girl who was blinded by a bb pellet. As a result of your
graphic illustrations of this tragic injury, we were able to persuade the
insurance company to increase their initial offer of $75,000.00 to
$475,000.00, just short of their policy limits.
We simply wanted you to know how pleased we were with your work which, to
repeat, was of superlative character, and to let you know that we would be
more than willing to serve as a reference in case you ever need one. Many
thanks for an extraordinary and dramatic depiction of a very serious injury
which clearly "catapulted" the insurance company's offer to a "full and
fair" amount to settle this case."
Philip C. Coulter Coulter &Coulter Roanoke, VA
"Our firm was able to settle our case at an all day mediation yesterday and
I am confident that the detail and overall appearance of the medical
illustrations significantly contributed to the settlement. When we require
medical illustrations in the future, I will be sure to contact [MLA]."
Noel Turner, III
Burts, Turner, Rhodes & Thompson
Spartanburg, SC
"There is nothing like a great graphic depicting the real nature and
extent of a victim's injuries to get full value for your client. I use
Medical Legal Art for mediations as well as trial."
Geoff Wells
Greene, Broillet, Panish & Wheeler
Santa Monica, CA
Medical Legal Art creates medical demonstrative evidence (medical
illustrations, drawings, pictures, graphics, charts, medical animations,
anatomical models, and interactive presentations) for use during legal
proceedings, including research, demand letters, client conferences,
depositions, arbitrations, mediations, settlement conferences, mock jury
trials and for use in the courtroom. We do not provide legal or medical
advice. If you have legal questions, you should find a lawyer with whom you
can discuss your case issues. If you have medical questions, you should seek the advice of a healthcare provider.