aortic eneurisum in upper abdoman surgery? is this fairly safe? as very worried-thank you?

Answer 1

An aneurysm is a weakness in the wall of the artery. Your blood is driven into your arteries under pressure by your heart (that's your blood pressure), and the pressure driving the blood against the weakness in the artery wall tends to make it balloon into a sort of pouch on the side of the artery.
If there is enough pressure behind the blood, it can further weaken the artery wall and eventually cause it to rupture, and that would be very serious indeed.
Surgery to repair an aneurysm involves reinforcing the weakness, to prevent that from happening.
It is considered major surgery, and like any surgery, carries risks. These risks should be explained to you in full by your doctor, and you will be given the chance to ask any questions about the things that are worrying you.
It's a good idea to write down a list of your concerns, so that your mind doesn't go blank when you're sitting in the surgery!
Good luck.

Answer 2

Abdominal Aortic Aneurisms or AAA as they are know in the trade are caused when the wall of the main artery of the body Aorta) weakens and a bulge forms. This reduces circulation to the lower body and also lowers blood pressure.
Most AAAs are considered to be safe under 4cm wide. After that they are cosidered to be unstable and need to be operated on, providing the patient is fit enough for surgery.
During surgery a nylon bendy tube known as a stent is placed inside the Aorta at the place where the aneurism has formed. This strengthens the wall of the aorta. The aneurism or bulge is then drained and surgically removed.

Answer 3

I used to work in a pharmacy and I knew a guy that survived having an aneurism break in a shopping mall...he was extremely fortunate. Because most people who have one break like that do not survive (due to excessive bleeding).

My uncle also was diagnosed with one when he was about 70 something years old. They told him he could die if he didn't have the surgery or the pressure could cause damage to his heart during the surgery and he could die DURING the surgery. He got scared and decided to save his money (since he wanted to take a a cross country train trip with the money). He didn't take the train trip, but about 6 months later , it broke open (away from the hospital) and he died.

So while it is a tricky surgery, the other option is even less pretty...bleeding to death somewhere away from the hospital and the squad cannot get there fast enough.

Try not to worry and just get everyone to pray for good results.

I have a couple of links for you. One of them says to take care of any heart problems first, because that is the main reason for heart attacks after aortic aneurism surgery.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001119.htm
http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/tc/Aortic-Aneurysm-Surgery

Answer 4

All surgery is a risk because of the anaesthetic. This surgery is very high risk but not as high risk as not getting it done! Triple A is a time bomb waiting to explode. If it does, you had better hope you are in a hospital and only about 2 minutes from being operated on. This kind of surgery would have been done many times by the surgeon, get it done SOON.

Answer 5

It is a big surgery, but, if you need it you need it. Aneurysms if they rupture, usually end in death. So, you want to take care of it before that happens. I've seen more people have trouble because of rupture than elective surgery to fix it. I've worked in hospitals for 30 years.

Answer 6

Aneurysm is actually life threatening especially on large blood vessels such as the aorta. It needs to be monitored closely and if the attending physician agrees and/or if the patient is healthy enough, it should be surgically-clipped to prevent it from bursting.