Nursing Student
Aortic aneurysm is a weakened and bulging area in the aorta, the major blood vessel that feeds blood to the body. The aorta is about the thickness of a garden hose, and runs from the heart through the center of the chest and abdomen. Because the aorta is the body’s main supplier of blood, a ruptured aortic aneurysm can cause life-threatening bleeding (The Mayo Clinic Staff, 2008). Bulges in an artery are classified as a true or false aneurysm. A true aneurysm involves all three layers of the blood vessels wall (intima, media, adventitia). A false aneurysm is contained only by the outermost two layers (media and adventitia) of the blood vessel wall and clot. It is a very fragile condition with a high risk of rupturing. False aneurysms are usually a result of an infection (Bhimji, 2006). Each year about 15,000 people die in the U.S. of a ruptured abdominal aneurysm. This is the 13th leading cause of death in the country (Bhimji, 2006).
The normal pathophysiology of the heart is deoxygenated blood is brought to the heart from the peripheries and brain and enters the superior and inferior vena cava, where it is dumped into the right atrium through the tricuspid valve to the right ventricle through the pulmonic semilunar valve to the pulmonary arteries to the pulmonary circulation to get oxygenated and then brought back through the pulmonary veins and dumped into the left atrium through the bicuspid (mitral) valve to the left ventricle through the aortic semilunar and into the aorta to be pushed out to the rest of the body. The aortic arch lies behind the heart. The aortic valve lies between the left ventricle and the aorta and that controls the flow of blood into the aorta. The aorta extends from the left ventricle and goes through the chest, down through midsection of the body (abdomen), and into the pelvis (groin) (Bhimji, 2006).
The causes of an aortic aneurysm is linked to several factors and they include:
1. Cigarette smoking...
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