The patient may not have any symptoms at ordinary times. Once the aortic aneurysm ruptures, the patient will die suddenly in a short time due to massive blood loss in the body.
You may not be familiar with this name. In fact, aortic aneurysm is not uncommon, and the incidence of abdominal aortic aneurysm in the elderly population is about 5%.
Some celebrities we are familiar with also died of ruptured aortic aneurysm:
When physicist Einstein was doing gastrectomy, the doctor accidentally found that he still had an abdominal aortic aneurysm and asked him to have an aneurysm resection, but Einstein refused.
A few years later, the aneurysm caused severe abdominal pain, and the doctor asked him to operate immediately, but Einstein refused again. Finally, the abdominal aortic aneurysm ruptured and took his life.
French President Charles de Gaulle and Li Siguang, a famous geologist in China, also died of ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm.
Recently, Yale University School of Medicine released a "thumb palm test", which can preliminarily test whether you may be hiding an aortic aneurysm.
Life Times combined research and interviews with experts to reveal why aortic aneurysm is an "untimely bomb" in blood vessels, and gave six suggestions to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
Interviewed experts
Jangdo, chief physician of vascular surgery, Peking University People's Hospital.
Director and Professor of Extracardiac Surgery, anzhen hospital Heart Surgery Center affiliated to Capital Medical University.
Yale University released "Thumb Palm Test"
This "thumb palm test" is simple: raise one hand and spread it out. Put your thumb in your palm (the other four fingers try to keep still) and see how far you can go.
Abdominal aortic aneurysm is the dilation or swelling of aorta, which is the main blood vessel from the heart down through the chest and abdomen.
The study was completed by researchers at Yale-New Haven Hospital affiliated to Yale University School of Medicine, and the results were published in the American Journal of Cardiology.
The researchers conducted a "thumb palm test" on 305 patients undergoing heart surgery. These patients were examined by transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) during operation.
There were 59 cases of ascending aortic aneurysm (65438 09.4%). The thumb and palm test was positive 10 (3.3%) and negative in 295 cases (96.7%).
The thumb palm test has low sensitivity (7.5%) but high specificity (98.5%) in predicting aortic aneurysm.
Simply put, most patients with aortic aneurysm do not have positive thumb palm sign (thumb crosses the edge of palm). So negative test results can't rule out aneurysms. However, patients with positive signs have a high probability of developing aortic aneurysm.
Researchers say that it usually takes decades for aneurysms to develop to the rupture point, so positive test results need not cause panic.
The most important step of aneurysm disease is to identify the affected population in the general population before aneurysm rupture.
The researchers suggest that "thumb palm test" should be a part of standard physical examination, especially for those with a family history of aortic aneurysm.
The researchers used this picture to show what a positive thumb palm test looks like.
In fact, "thumb palm test" has always been one of the important criteria for judging Marfan's syndrome.
Being able to move the thumb like this means that the patient's bones are too long and the joints are loose, which may be a sign of systemic connective tissue disease. Generally speaking, there is something wrong with the glue that binds human cells together.
The most fatal hazards of Marfan syndrome patients are often aortic dissection and aortic aneurysm.
skill
It should be noted that not everyone who tests positive is an aneurysm carrier. You can't just judge whether a person has an aortic aneurysm by thumb palm test.
If you have the above problems and suspect cardiovascular disease, you should go to the hospital for a comprehensive diagnosis and then decide on the next treatment.
Aortic aneurysm, an untimely bomb on a blood vessel
Before we understand aortic aneurysm, we should know what aorta is.
Aorta is the thickest artery in human body, and it is also the blood vessel with the greatest pressure on human body.
It emanates from the left ventricle of the heart, goes up, to the right, and then down, like an arched pipe, descends along the spine, branches in the chest cavity and abdominal cavity, and transports blood to all parts of the body.
An aortic aneurysm refers to the "dilation" of the aorta.
Specifically, the arterial wall is formed by local weakening under the action of pathological factors and slowly bulging outward after being impacted by blood flow.
Most aortic aneurysms are asymptomatic, and usually small aneurysms can only be found in physical examination or imaging examination. Therefore, screening and regular physical examination can provide opportunities for early diagnosis.
Aortic aneurysms are common in two parts of the human body. One is in the chest, called thoracic aortic aneurysm. The other is in the abdomen, called abdominal aortic aneurysm.
The data shows that about 50% of patients with ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm died before being sent to hospital. Even with treatment, the success rate is less than half.
However, during the growth of aortic aneurysm, some people may have the following symptoms:
Abdominal aortic aneurysm:
Thoracic aortic aneurysm:
Some aortic aneurysms rupture, others don't. Some aortic aneurysms will affect the blood supply of some organs and tissues, leading to various problems, such as heart disease, kidney injury, stroke and even death.
Who is prone to aortic aneurysm?
Old age, hypertension, arteriosclerosis, smoking, high-salt diet, family history of arterial disease and diabetes are all high-risk factors for aortic aneurysm.
People over 65 years old, especially men, who have chronic diseases such as hypertension and cardiovascular diseases, have smoked for more than 10 years, and have a history of peripheral aneurysms, should have an abdominal ultrasound every year.
Seven key points to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease attack
Most cardiovascular diseases can be prevented. The incidence of cardiovascular diseases is mainly related to unhealthy eating habits, less physical activity, hypertension, hyperlipidemia and obesity, and these risk factors are often complementary.
There are seven key factors that can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease:
0 1 Control the blood pressure within the normal range.
Hypertension will not only slowly damage the heart, brain, kidneys and other organs, but also lead to aortic dissection, which can quickly kill people.
In life, we should avoid such factors as exultation, staying up late, overwork and so on, which will lead to a sudden increase in blood pressure.
Eating too much salt will raise blood pressure. It is suggested that the daily salt intake of adults should not exceed 6 grams (less than the amount of a beer bottle cap).
Quit smoking and limit alcohol.
Non-smokers had better stay away from cigarettes forever; People who are addicted to smoking and find it difficult to meet the challenge of quitting smoking should seek the help of professionals and adopt more effective methods to quit smoking.
Alcohol can not only lead to alcoholic cardiomyopathy and hypertension, but also cause myocardial infarction, cerebral infarction, atrial fibrillation, heart failure, cerebral vascular rupture and other problems.
03 weight control
Overweight or obese people should take effective measures to lose weight, reduce calorie intake and exercise actively as soon as possible.
Generally, it can be evaluated by body mass index (BMI), and the calculation formula is the square of body mass index weight (kg) and height (m).
Exercise 3~5 times a week.
Adults should do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise or 75 minutes of high-intensity exercise every week.
People who exercise regularly can appropriately increase the intensity of exercise; People who don't exercise regularly should try to change their sedentary habits and gradually increase their exercise.
Avoid excessive twisting and stretching.
For the elderly, we should try to avoid sudden and large-scale twisting and stretching of the upper body in our lives.
For example, get up and slowly stand up from the sofa; It's better to have an armrest next to the toilet, so you can borrow some force when you get up. When something falls to the ground, don't lean over to reach it, but squat down to pick it up, which can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
06 control other chronic diseases
Many studies have confirmed that hypertension, high cholesterol, hyperglycemia and diabetes are all important risk factors for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. It is suggested that lifestyle should be improved as soon as possible and corresponding treatment should be carried out.
Take the medicine according to the doctor's advice
Doctors often prescribe statins, antihypertensive drugs or hypoglycemic drugs for people with "three highs" to control their condition, and patients should adhere to the medication according to the doctor's advice.