Aortic dissection is a dangerous disease that requires immediate hospitalization. Statistics show that mortality in the absence of proper treatment is 65-70%, while even when medical care has been provided, the number of deaths is high.
The main causes of aortic dissection
An aneurysm is a protrusion of the wall of a blood vessel because of its thinning, or a cluster of cholesterol plaques. In the event that the aneurysm breaks the integrity of the inner layer of the aortic wall, intima, the blood gradually begins to penetrate into the space between the inner and middle layer of the wall, gradually exfoliating it. Already at this stage, the patient needs hospitalization to prevent further damage to the aorta. Unfortunately, it is possible to detect stratification at this stage only by chance, during a general examination of the state of health of the organism.
Later, blood between the layers of the wall of the vessels becomes more and more, and it penetrates between the middle and outer layers of the aorta. If there is a complete breakdown, a person is likely to die from a major internal bleeding or pain shock. Therefore, it is important not only to diagnose the disease in time, but also to be aware of possible risk factors.
Most often, aortic aneurysm dissection has a genetic predisposition, so if there have been such cases in your family, you should be alert. Also provoking factors are connective tissue diseases and various kinds of mutations. Here is a list of the categories of persons most at risk:
- people over 60;
- black men;
- Patients with heart and vascular disease;
- obese people;
- alcoholics, drug addicts;
- patients with syphilis and other diseases characterized by tissue necrosis;
- hypertensive patients;
- athletes.
Representatives of the latter category should talk separately. People who are professionally involved in sports usually have an increased workload on the cardiovascular system, so it wears out much faster. Diseases affecting the population aged 60-70 years, are found in 40-year-old runners and riders. The cause of aortic dissection may be a severe blunt trauma in the thoracic region.
The main symptoms of aortic dissection are a burning, unbearable pain in the heart and area of the lesion, a decrease in the pulse with increasing pressure. There are practically no other signs of this pathology.
Treatment of aortic dissection
Treatment of the bundle implies immediate hospitalization and surgical intervention. Only surgery will help stop further aortic dissection and its complete rupture, even half an hour of delay can cost the patient life. If the condition is not critical and the blood between the walls of the aorta can be pumped out in a different way, it will subsequently be necessary to undergo a course of conservative treatment that involves strengthening the walls of the blood vessels and lowering blood pressure. This will extend the life of the patient for 10-15 years, but if the stratification has already begun,
Depending on the location of the affected area, you can make a further prediction:
- With the separation of the thoracic aorta, the survival rate is very low, as it interrupts the small circle of the circulation and can cause complete cardiac arrest. In this case, the pains will resemble the nature and intensity of myocardial infarction and the experienced doctor will quickly put the correct diagnosis, sending the patient to the surgery.
- Stratification of the abdominal aorta often proceeds asymptomatically, the pain syndrome occurs much later, which complicates the diagnosis. This type of disease is less dangerous, but it is important to suspect in time something wrong and make an MRI or tomography.