Treating Thoracic and Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms

Aortic Aneurysms require careful planning and expert treatment. Our surgeons provide an extremely high level of care right here in North Texas / the DFW Metroplex.

What are thoracic and abdominal aortic aneurysms?

An aortic aneurysm is a bulging, weak area in the wall of your aorta, which is the largest artery in your body. If it grows large enough, it can burst and cause a dangerous amount of bleeding.

Aneurysms that happen in your belly are called abdominal aortic aneurysms. Those that happen in your chest are called thoracic aortic aneurysms. Sometimes, an aortic aneurysm can run through both your chest and abdomen.

What causes thoracic and abdominal aortic aneurysms?

While we don’t know exactly what causes aortic aneurysms, several things may cause the wall of the aorta to weaken. Some risk factors are family history, smoking, high cholesterol and high blood pressure.

What are the symptoms of thoracic and abdominal aortic aneurysms?

You might not have any symptoms of an aortic aneurysm. For people who do have symptoms, pain is the most common. This pain may be in the abdomen, chest, lower back or groin. 85% of people whose aneurysm ruptures, never even knew they had one. Medicare covers AAA screening of certain ‘at-risk’ patients at no out-of-pocket cost to the patient. https://www.medicare.gov/coverage/ab-aortic-aneurysm-screening.html

How do you treat thoracic and abdominal aortic aneurysms?

We can diagnose an aortic aneurysm with an ultrasound done in our office. Most aneurysms do not require surgical repair. You can work closely with your vascular specialist to manage the condition. Once the aneurysm has reached a certain size, your surgeon can treat it with endovascular or open surgical repair.

Treating aortic aneurysms is challenging and requires careful planning. However, the latest endovascular repair techniques have led to dramatically improved results for patients. At Vascular Care of Texas, our surgeons strive to provide the highest quality of personalized care for thoracic and abdominal aortic aneurysms.

The recovery time for this procedure has been greatly reduced due to advances in this field. When performed endovascularly on an in-patient basis, typical recovery time is 1-2 days, however every patient is unique.