AORTIC ANEURYSM
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The aorta carries oxygen-rich blood to
the body, and is therefore called an artery. Because the aorta is an
artery, its walls are made of up three layers; a thin inner layer, a
muscular middle layer (that gives the vessel its flexibility under
pressure from the filling blood), and a fiber-like outer layer that
gives the vessel strength to not burst when the heart pumps blood to
the body.
Aortic aneurysms occur when a weakness develops in part of the wall
of the aorta; three basic types are usually found. If all three
layers of the vessel are affected and weakness develops along an
extended area of the vessel, the weakened area will appear as a
large, bulging region of blood vessel; this is called a fusiform
aneurysm. If weakness develops between the inner and outer layers of
the aortic wall, a bulge results as blood from the interior of the
vessel is pushed around the damaged region in the wall and collects
between these layers. This is called a dissecting aneurysm because
one layer is "dissected" or separated from another. If damage occurs
to only the middle (muscular) layer of the vessel, a sack-like bulge
can form; therefore, this is a saccular aneurysm. |
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| AORTIC ANEURYSM RELATED ITEMS |
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