Intracranial aneurysms are abnormal bulges in the walls of brain arteries that have high morbidity and mortality rates when they rupture. Because the risks associated with treatment are substantial, it is important to identify patients at lower risk for rupture who can avoid treatment. However, to date, a clinically used tool for risk assessment remains elusive. Our group has recently identified calcification as a remarkably common finding in human cerebral aneurysm tissue and have demonstrated that it can play an important role in generating stress concentrations in cerebral aneurysms. While arterial calcification in atherosclerotic plaques has been the focus of extensive study, relatively little attention has been given to calcification in cerebral aneurysms. The studies of calcification in arteries have addressed the location, development and morphological patterns of calcification in atherosclerosis as well as the possibly beneficial role of calcification in mechanical reinforcement and deleterious role as a source of stress concentration. A central objective of this thesis was the development of protocols for studying calcification and lipid pools in cerebral aneurysms using multiple imaging modalities.These protocols were successfully developed and then applied to a case study to investigate the relationship between calcification, collagen fibers, and lipid pools.The approaches developed here will be used in an ongoing large-scale investigation of sources of strength and weakness in cerebral aneurysm walls
