Aortic Aneurysms- Silent Killers

Aortic aneurysms are the thirteenth leading cause of death in the United States, with over fifteen thousand succumbing to the condition each year. An aortic aneurysm occurs when an area of the aorta, the largest blood vessel in the human body, becomes weakened, and the pressure of blood running through the region causes a bulge in the wall of the vessel. Aortic aneurysms can rupture, resulting in deadly internal bleeding and fatal blood clots to the heart, brain, and lungs. It normally takes a long time for an aortic aneurysm to reach the point of rupturing, and once identified, they can be surgically repaired. But if they are never discovered, aortic aneurysms can rupture without you ever having known you were in danger.

The main artery leaving the heart, the aorta, carries freshly oxygenated blood to the rest of the body. It comes out of the left chamber of the heart and through the chest, down through the abdomen and into the pelvis. From there the aorta branches out into both legs; as a matter of fact, nearly every artery in the body branches off of the aorta, so it is obvious that a problem such as an aortic aneurysm could be extremely serious to say the least. Aneurysms that cause this bulging can happen in any artery in the body, and are most common in those of the brain. There are three layers that compose the walls of an artery, the innermost is called the intima, the middle is the media, with the outer layer known as the adventitia. A true aneurysm involves all three of these layers; what is called a false aneurysm involves the two outer layers of the artery wall. Most aneurysms affect people in the age group from fifty-five years old and up, with men four times as likely as women to suffer an aortic aneurysm.