Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a ballooning of the aorta, the largest blood vessel in the human body, which extends into the abdomen. If the wall of this blood vessel becomes weakened, it can stretch, "balloon" out and rupture. A rupture, if left untreated, can lead to life-threatening internal bleeding. The exact cause of this condition is unknown. However, it often occurs in older adults, especially males, those with a high cholesterol level, and in smokers. There also tends to be a genetic link to this disorder.
Researchers at the University of Warwick have found a way of using a test devised in the 1930s, and used to gauge the stress on the superchargers in wartime spitfire fighter planes, to model the stress that surgical procedures would put on an aortic aneurysm.
Only recently was a type of diuretic known as thiazides been found to be superior to angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and calcium antagonists (calcium channel blockers) in preventing one or more major types of cardiovascular disease.
The U.S. Surgeon General has released a new comprehensive report on smoking and health, revealing for the first time that smoking causes diseases in nearly every organ of the body. Published 40 years after the surgeon general's first report on smoking -- which concluded that smoking was a definite cause of three serious diseases -- this newest report finds that cigarette smoking is conclusively linked to diseases such as leukemia, cataracts, pneumonia and cancers of the cervix, kidney, pancreas and stomach.
U.S. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona today released a new comprehensive report on smoking and health, revealing for the first time that smoking causes diseases in nearly every organ of the body.
Every year in England and Wales about 6,000 men die from a ruptured aortic aneurysm (caused by ballooning of the artery wall) yet aortic aneurysms can be detected with a simple ultrasound scan.
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