With the increase in patients with atherosclerosis, the incidence of abdominal aortic aneurysm has increased significantly in recent years 76-year-old Chen Abel feels that his stomach is not quite right these days: feel with your hands, there is a hard object near the belly button, but also in the fluttering “beating”! What is this? How can the heart be beating in the stomach? To the hospital a check, the doctor told him: this is the abdominal aortic aneurysm, like a “time bomb” hidden in the body, to be dismantled immediately, otherwise there is a risk of explosion at any time. It is understood that with the increase in patients with atherosclerosis, the incidence of abdominal aortic aneurysm has also increased significantly in recent years. Atherosclerosis has become the main cause What is abdominal aortic aneurysm? Yang Chengyu, deputy chief physician of the Department of Vascular Surgery of the Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical College, introduced to the reporter: abdominal aortic aneurysm is a permanent focal expansion that occurs in the abdominal aorta itself, “the human arterial mesothelium becomes diseased and gradually loses its elasticity, and the pressure of the blood in the aorta on the blood vessels is high, in this case, the blood vessels swell up like a balloon. ” When the diameter of the dilated abdominal aorta exceeds 1.5 times the normal diameter, it becomes an “aneurysm”. The diameter of the aorta in a normal person is less than 2 cm, while those over 3 cm are aortic aneurysms, and those over 5 cm are at risk of rupture. Once an aneurysm ruptures, it will immediately cause hemorrhage and a sudden drop in blood pressure, resulting in the patient’s rapid death within half an hour. This is why aortic aneurysms are often referred to as “time bombs” in the body. There are three main causes of abdominal aortic aneurysm: 1) atherosclerosis; 2) smoking; 3) inflammation (especially syphilis). In recent years, atherosclerosis has become the main cause of abdominal aortic aneurysm, and the uncle mentioned in the opening paragraph has a 12-year history of atherosclerosis. According to 2004 statistics, 12% of patients with atherosclerosis develop abdominal aortic aneurysms. The growth rate of such cases has been high in recent years. Yang Chengyu, Department of Surgery, Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University Frequent “palpation” helps to detect aortic aneurysms early In the past, the risk of treating aortic aneurysms was high. Nowadays, the accuracy rate of ultrasound examination is between 80-90%, followed by CT imaging to confirm the diagnosis, and the chances of successful cure are still high if the patient is admitted to hospital in time. So, how can you find out your condition as early as possible? Yang Chengyu told reporters: the easiest way is to “feel”. If you have an aortic aneurysm, you can feel it with your hands when it is about 3-4 cm in diameter. For obese people, especially those with large stomachs, it may be a little difficult to feel by hand. If you feel a lump near the belly button and can feel the pulsation of the lump, there is a 90% chance that it is an aneurysm. If the patient feels stomach pain and back pain at the same time, special attention should be paid because this is a sign of rapid expansion or rupture of the aneurysm, and timely surgery can save more than 50% of the patients. However, if the aneurysm is not treated in time, when the artery ruptures completely and the patient loses blood pressure, the hope of salvation will be reduced to zero. The traditional treatment for abdominal aortic aneurysm is to remove the diseased vessel and implant an artificial vessel, which is risky and requires a large amount of blood transfusion during the operation, which may cause the patient’s heart failure. Moreover, after dissection and opening the chest, the patient is very traumatized and there are many complications during the treatment period, so the surgical mortality rate is high. But now, a new minimally invasive treatment method has been introduced, namely “aortic intracavitary isolation”. Aortic endoluminal isolation is performed by using an “abdominal aortic stent”, which requires only a small incision at the root of the thigh, and a herringbone “stent” is installed in the diseased vessel under precise X-ray positioning, which can be unfolded to isolate the aneurysm and allow blood to After the stent is unfolded, the aneurysm is isolated and the blood is “rerouted” through the new pipeline that is supported by the stent, while the original diseased blood vessel is thrombosed and slowly absorbs and shrinks after no blood has passed through it. This procedure is simple, safe, and effective, greatly reducing the mortality rate, but it is expensive. The abdominal aortic stent used in the procedure is an imported product and usually costs more than $110,000.