Kim Kardashian revealed on Thursday’s season premiere of The Kardashians that doctors detected “a little aneurysm” on her brain after an MRI, adding that she was told it was “just stress.”
“This week has been the hardest week of my life,” she says in the episode, which also shows her discussing post-divorce tensions and a psoriasis flare. Entertainment outlets, including People, Entertainment Weekly, and E!, reported the on-air revelation and her remark that physicians linked the finding to stress.
What is a brain aneurysm?
A brain (cerebral) aneurysm is a bulge in a weakened section of a blood vessel in the brain. Many are small, cause no symptoms, and are found incidentally; the danger comes if an aneurysm leaks or ruptures, which can lead to life-threatening bleeding (a hemorrhagic stroke). Major risk factors include smoking, high blood pressure, certain inherited conditions, and age; women are affected more often than men.
It’s important to separate causes from triggers. Chronic factors like hypertension and smoking contribute to aneurysm formation and rupture risk. Short-term triggers such as intense exertion or acute emotional stress have been associated with the timing of some ruptures in observational research, but stress alone is not considered a primary cause of aneurysm formation.
If an aneurysm is detected, management ranges from watchful imaging follow-up for very small, low-risk aneurysms to minimally invasive endovascular procedures (coils, stents, or flow-diverters) or surgical clipping for higher-risk cases. Decisions are individualized by a neurosurgery and interventional neuroradiology team.
The Israeli angle: labs and clinics pushing the field forward
Israel’s bioengineering and neuro-intervention community has been working on ways to make aneurysm care safer and more precise:
A Technion team led by Dr. Netanel Korin reported a surface-tension method that briefly seals the aneurysm neck with an immiscible fluid, isolating the sac so treatments can be delivered only inside it. In patient-specific models and a neurovascular flow system, they showed localized staining and hydrogel embolization without protruding into the parent artery, an approach that could one day reduce dependence on permanent metal implants. (Preclinical research; not yet in patients.)
In 2025, Technion investigators published an environment-selective embolic hydrogel that expands less in whole blood than in plasma, aiming to fill the aneurysm while minimizing bulge into the main artery. The material fully occluded aneurysm models under physiologic flow in the lab.
Patient-specific 3D-printed rehearsal
A case-control study from Tel Aviv University and Rabin Medical Center found that pre-procedure rehearsals on 3D-printed aneurysm models changed treatment strategy in several cases and trended toward fewer complications, underscoring the promise of personalized planning—even though the sample was small and results need confirmation in larger cohorts.
Beyond devices and planning tools, Israeli hospitals have also been studying the real-world context in which hemorrhages occur. A multicenter analysis led by Rambam Health Care Campus reported a post–October 7 rise in brain hemorrhage cases across five Israeli medical centers, a signal researchers said may be linked to sustained population-level stress. While not specific to aneurysms, many non-traumatic brain hemorrhages stem from ruptured aneurysms.
And on the detection side, Israeli-developed AI is being used to speed up head-CT reading for suspected bleeds, potentially shortening time-to-treatment when minutes matter. Assuta Medical Centers reported that Aidoc’s triage tools reduced backlogs and flagged missed intracranial hemorrhages.
So what should readers take from Kardashian’s announcement?
First, incidental aneurysms are not rare, and many never rupture. Second, “stress” as a shorthand can confuse cause and timing: acute stress has been observed as a trigger in some ruptures, but long-term risk reduction still centers on blood-pressure control, smoking cessation, and specialist follow-up when an aneurysm is found.
If you or someone near you develops a sudden “worst headache of my life,” a stiff neck, confusion, weakness, or fainting, call emergency services immediately. For non-urgent concerns about an incidental aneurysm, ask your physician for referral to a neurovascular clinic for individualized advice.