Here Are Some Important Facts You Should Know About Aortic Dissection

The aorta, just like all blood vessels has three layers: the inner layer which is called tunica intima, the middle layer tunica media and the outer layer tunica adventitia.

Sometimes a separation of or a dissection between these layers can occur and in the case of the aorta where the BP is very high and there is a lot of blood, blood can seep into this crack and get in between these layers. And this presence is an enlarged segment of the aorta, commonly referred to as a pseudo aneurysm. While a true aneurysm would have a stock or a balloonist shape.

What Is Aortic Dissection?

Aortic dissection happens when the innermost layer of the aorta tears, because of Aortic dissection the normal function of the aorta to supply blood to the parts of the body is not taken care of and the blood doesn’t flow to all the organs of the body, because Aortic dissection there can be decreased blood supply to vital organs of the body.

A pseudo aneurysm is more diffused and appears as an enlarged area, of course, all of this blood that is accumulated in between the layers can leak out as soon as the outer layer is penetrated, and this is of course life-threatening.

What Are The Classifications Of Aortic Dissection?

We classify Aortic dissection disease into two categories either Stanford type A or Stanford type B. Stanford type A is occurred in the ascending aorta and Stanford type B is the section that occurs in the descending aorta.

Another classification that you might see is known as the DeBakey classification and it has three types: type one involves the ascending aorta, the aorta arch, and descending aorta. Type 2 concerns only the ascending aorta and type three involves only the descending aorta.

What Are The Signs And Symptoms Of Aortic Dissection?

When  Aortic dissection happens the patient will experience severe pain in his back, he can experience giddiness, pain similar to a heart attack, pain in his upper limb or his lower limb or he can have decreased urine output, these are the common signs when a patient should think of coming to the hospital immediately to get treatment for Aortic dissection. And some other common symptoms include:

• Collapse
• Chest /back /abdominal pain
• Cold legs, paraplegia
• Hypotensive
• Cardiac tamponade /acute AR
• Uneven pulse (radio radial delay)
• The uneven blood pressure
• Wide mediastinum on chest X-ray
• Contrast MRI/CT shows arterial lumen separation

If you are experiencing any of the above signs, please visit American vein clinics, which have a specialised team. 

What Are The Causes Of Aortic Dissection?

1. Uncontrolled hypertension
2. Marfan syndrome
3. Idiopathic

What Is The Diagnosis Of Aortic Dissection?

1. Initial test: Just x-ray - if this shows white mediastinum you should confirm it with a city scan
2. Confirmative test: CT-contrasted - if the patient is stable
3. Ultrasound - if the patient is unstable

Also Read: How fatal is aortic dissection?

What Is The Treatment Of Aortic Dissection?

1. Stanford type A: Always surgery
2. Stanford type B: Beta-blockers or surgery yet

Who Are Mostly Like To Have Aortic Dissection?

Those patients who have high blood pressure and are not on regular medications to control their blood pressure are likely to experience Aortic dissection.

There are other groups of patients who can develop Aortic dissection and they are patients who have connective tissue disorders like Marfan syndrome and loeys-dietz syndrome.

So How Does A Physician Treats A Patient With Aortic Dissection?

A patient who comes to the emergency will immediately undergo a CT scan of the entire body to see the status of the aorta and then your physician will have to plan a surgery to replace his torn aorta, so this is a form of open heart surgery, where the tear in the aorta is replaced by using an artificial graft or a conduit to give proper supply to the remaining body by way of this repair, the normal blood supply can be restored to all the body organs and the patient can come out of this grave danger out.

If you are looking for the best treatment for Aortic dissection, you should visit https://americanveinclinics.com/ or call 469-808-0000 to book an appointment.