abdominal aortic aneurysm : symptoms, cause and treatment - medicalloe

abdominal aortic aneurysm : symptoms, cause and treatment - medicalloe

hello in this article we're going to talk about symptoms, cause and treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysm this is an overview and introduction here I'm drawing the descending aorta which comes from the aortic arch and the heart the renal arteries come off the descending aorta and supply the kidneys the majority of people with Triple A are asymptomatic and often Triple A is an incidental finding if this is the case it does require monitoring 90% of triple-a is start below the renal artery 15% extend to the common 

iliac arteries let us have a closer look so here is your abdominal aorta with an aneurysm below the kidney arteries the renal arteries in general an aneurysm can be defined as an increase in 50% of the vessels diameter a triple-a requires continuous monitoring large abdominal aortic aneurysm is defined as an aneurysm greater than five point five centimeters and this requires treatment if treatment is not done the 

Triple A can progress to a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm the clinical presentation of a ruptured triple-a include unexplained rapid onset hypotension back pain or low in pain and sweating also the triple-a can rupture either anteriorly or posteriorly anteriorly it can rupture into the peritoneal cavity or posteriorly into the retroperitoneal rupturing into the peritoneal cavity has a poorer prognosis let's take a closer look so here is a cross-section of the abdomen this is the vertebrae the bone the aorta and the inferior vena cava this in front of the aorta is a peritoneal cavity where our intestines are behind here is the 

retroperitoneal area where our kidneys are for example if the triple-a ruptures anteriorly into the peritoneal cavity this is quite fatal rupturing posteriorly however into the retroperitoneal cavity the patient can be transiently stable but will rapidly decline without surgery other complications of triple-a asides from rupturing include death renal failure because of decreased blood flow to the kidneys lower limb ischemia and mieze enteric ischemia again all of this is as a result of decreased decreased blood flow to the area loss of blood so what can be done well in 

patients with large Triple A five point five centimeters or greater an intervention is required surgery is indicated for patients with a Triple A with a high diameter which is rapidly growing when when it's being monitored and for those who are also symptomatic so complaining of back pain for example the main surgery is an endovascular repair where a stent is inserted into the abdominal aorta 

that runs essentially through where the aneurysm is the management of a ruptured triple-a is an emergency and in summary requires resuscitation and surgery prophylactic antibiotic prior to surgery is also important so the early management for non-surgical candidates it's really palliative care and analgesia for a free rupture it's surgery and also for a contained leak it's also surgery an example for 

surgery in a in the case of a ruptured triple-a a graft is used so we have triple a graft repair and this is essentially where the weak walls of the aorta is replaced with the graft if surgery is not performed the prognosis of a patient with a ruptured triple-a is very poor the risk factors for developing a Triple A are those same risk factors for cardiovascular disease and include smoking hypertension hypercholesterolemia atherosclerosis advanced age male gender and having a family history you