Problems You Don't Want to Die From: #1 Aortic Dissection

So I've decided to do a running set of entries about heart problems you don't want. These are, of course, in no particular order.

Today's entry focuses on aortic dissections.

First off, let's start with a little crash course in the anatomy of your heart. Your heart is part of a major organ system that supplies blood to your entire body. The aorta is the largest blood vessel which carries oxygenated blood from your heart to the rest of your vital organ systems.

Think of it as the main pipe in a series of ones that run under a city. To keep it simple, this particular pipe has three layers of 'metal' that make it up (kind of like how the earth's crust is made up of different layers with different properties). In an actual dissection, blood seeps into the middle of the three layers of the aorta and creates a stagnant pocket of blood that creates pressure in that layer causing it to further tear the lining of the vessel. Similar to further packing cars into a cul-de-sac; eventually cars spill out onto the street because there isn't any more room. The explosion of said aneurysm causes massive bleeding and almost instantaneous death.

Some individuals with abdominal aortic aneurysms (where the ballooning occurs in the lower portion of the aorta) can have surgical repairs to prevent further progression. People that can't undergo surgery can opt with medical management to control their blood pressures instead.

There aren't any definite causes as to why aortic dissections occur. We can point to the usual suspects like high plaque build up on the walls of blood vessels from eating foods high in fats/cholesterol (which causes subsequent hardening of the vessels -- aka atherosclerosis), or high blood pressure. Surgical complications can also cause aortic dissections (very rarely), and/or a lot of trauma to your entire body (like in some type of massive motor vehicle accident).

That concludes the first, friendly public service announcement. Stay tuned for the next freakish heart condition!