Last month, we learned what an aortic aneurysm is, how it can be detected, its presentation, and risk factors. This month, we’ll discuss diagnosis and treatment.
How Can It Be Diagnosed
This can be done with the help of an ultrasound, a painless, safe test that does not involve any radiation. If confirmed and found to be less than 5 centimeters, the next step would be getting a CT scan with IV dye, which provides useful information regarding the anatomy and for planning a repair.
Treatment
There are several options for repair.
If an aneurysm is small, then it does not need to be repaired. However, it’s important to stop smoking and make changes to medications and get regular scans to make sure that it’s not rapidly increasing in size.
For aneurysms larger than 5.5 centimeters, or if it is increasing in size at a rapid pace or causing pain, the options would be to repair it by traditional open surgery and placing a graft or going for the newer, minimally invasive way of endovascular stent grafting — both of which can be done by a vascular surgeon.
