An aneurysm is an abnormal dilatation of the blood vessels, which can in many cases generate serious complications, even putting the patient’s life at risk. Angiology and vascular surgery, with its early detection programs, is able to diagnose the presence of these aneurysms and if necessary treat them avoiding potential complications and associated sequelae.
What is an aneurysm?
An aneurysm is a pathological or exaggerated dilatation of a blood vessel, usually an artery. It usually affects large caliber arteries, such as the Aorta, which is the main thoracic or abdominal artery. It can also affect iliac, popliteal and femoral arteries. It can also affect visceral arteries such as renal arteries, splenic… Other locations are rare.
Symptoms of aneurysm How to detect them?
Aneurysms are generally asymptomatic, that is, they do not present symptoms that give evidence to the patient that he/she has them. On examination, they manifest themselves with the presence of a pulsatile mass. But usually, the symptoms of the presence of an aneurysm usually occur due to its complications, such as rupture of the aneurysm or aneurysm thrombosis.
Aneurysmal rupture generates a sudden and massive bleeding that is sometimes accompanied by dizziness, loss of consciousness, severe hypotension, vegetative syndrome and sudden and intense pain.
Thrombosis generates a picture of acute ischemia, which is the sudden absence of distal irrigation to the affected area. The main symptoms are intense pain, cold sensation, pallor, paresthesia or loss of sensitivity, paralysis or mobility deficit and absence of pulses.
Treatment of aneurysm
Aneurysm treatment is very urgent when complications occur and optional in the absence of complications, depending then on the size of the aneurysm.
Currently the trend is to treat this pathology, whenever possible, by endovascular techniques, such as stent implantation in an aneurysm. These techniques are performed with loco-regional anesthesia, used to anesthetize areas of the body but without altering the patient’s consciousness. The endovascular process allows a fast and complete recovery with very low risk.
When endovascular treatment is not possible, a conventional surgical repair is performed, the aneurysm operation consists of a resection and application of a Bypass.
In case of small or non-surgical aneurysms, the procedure to follow is to carry out a strict control of cardiovascular risk factors to avoid vascular accidents, especially controlling hypertension and periodic monitoring of aneurysms, semiannually or annually depending on the size.