Kim Kardashian, the reality television star and entrepreneur, says that she has been diagnosed with a brain aneurysm.
Ms. Kardashian, 45, disclosed the diagnosis during a teaser for the seventh season of her reality show, “The Kardashians,” which premiered on Thursday on Hulu.
“There’s like a little aneurysm,” Ms. Kardashian can be heard saying in the clip, which appears in a preview of the season at the beginning of its first episode.
Ms. Kardashian’s sister Kourtney Kardashian Barker appears to respond to the news, saying, “Whoa.”
Ms. Kardashian can be heard suggesting the aneurysm stems from stress. Footage in the teaser also appears to show Ms. Kardashian undergoing a brain scan.
Brain aneurysms are relatively common: about one in every 50 people has an unruptured brain aneurysm. Many people who have them are not aware of it, because unruptured aneurysms typically do not cause symptoms.
It was not clear whether Ms. Kardashian was experiencing symptoms or not. Ms. Kardashian’s publicist did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday.
In rare instances, if the aneurysm grows to a large size, unruptured aneurysms can cause intense headaches, weakness, speech difficulties, or difficulty balancing, among other symptoms. If an aneurysm does rupture, it can lead to a sudden, severe headache — one patients often characterize as the worst of their lives — as well as nausea, double vision, confusion, loss of consciousness or seizures. Aneurysms that burst are extremely dangerous and can lead to strokes, brain damage or even death.
Aneurysms are bulging areas that form on blood vessels in the brain, similar to “a weak spot on a tire,” said Dr. Shazam Hussain, director of the Cerebrovascular Center at the Cleveland Clinic.
Brain aneurysms don’t always need treatment.
But in many cases, unruptured aneurysms can just be monitored. “Not everyone who has a brain aneurysm needs treatment,” said Dr. Aditya Pandey, chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at University of Michigan Health. He considers the location of the aneurysm, the size — the larger it is, the greater the chance it will bleed — the shape, and someone’s family history before determining if a patient needs treatment. He also weighs factors that make the aneurysm more likely to expand and bleed, such as smoking and uncontrolled high blood pressure. Doctors can successfully treat aneurysms through surgery.
“They’re not always scary, a lot of them can just be watched, and in the times we do need to treat them, there are so many good, good ways,” Dr. Hussain said.
Does stress actually raise the risk of aneurysm?
Ms. Kardashian seems to suggest in the clip that stress could have led to her aneurysm. “We don’t have anything that would suggest there’s a direct link with just with stress and aneurysms,” Dr. Hussain said. While prolonged stress can lead to high blood pressure, which raises the risk of aneurysms, “We don’t really connect those two, in general,” he said. The factors that do raise the risk of developing an aneurysm include uncontrolled high blood pressure, smoking and family history.
Ms. Kardashian has previously promoted full-body M.R.I. scans, despite doctors warning that these scans may not be useful for every patient.
Dani Blum is a health reporter for The Times.
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