Recruitment starts on first genetic screening for brain aneurysm
1 Sep 2025
Genetic screening is being employed to improve early treatment and detection of brain aneurysms.
The ROAR (Risk Of Aneurysm Rupture) Study, already tracking 20,000 NHS patients, is claimed to be the largest project of its sort in the world.
Under its umbrella, a new multicentre research project based in Southampton is now embarking on the first study of the genetic markers that suggest a person’s predisposition to the condition.
The ROAR-DNA Project involves researchers from University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust (UHS) and the University of Southampton examining data from 6,000 patients over a four year period.
The hope is to develop a more refined system to predict rupture potential, extending the list of risk factors to include gender and family history. Recruitment for the project begins this autumn.
Professor Diederik Bulters, UHS consultant neurosurgeon, honorary professor of neurovascular surgery at the University of Southampton Diederik Bulters is ROAR Study chief investigator.
Explaining the project’s potential impact, he said:
"Most brain aneurysms will never rupture but we currently have no way of identifying the minority that will…ROAR-DNA is designed to fill the critical gap in our understanding of genetic risk.
“It could pave the way for targeted NHS screening programmes that identify and monitor high-risk individuals before an aneurysm becomes life-threatening—and open up new possibilities for therapeutic treatment to reduce the need for invasive surgery."
Of 2 million people in the UK with evidence of aneurysms, an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 people experience a brain aneurysm rupture each year, with around half proving fatal.
While the majority are rated as one-off incidents caused by swellings in the brain’s blood vessels, around one in six patients with the condition have a parent or sibling who is also affected.
The Southampton study will compare data from sufferers with others lacking aneurysms – a project made possible, said Bulters, by access to the NHS’s “unique” infrastructure and secure patient data, together with support from the Medical Research Council.
Pic: Maxim Berg
