Vascular Aneurysm

[Marsha Gupton]

Can anyone tell me what this is? One of my friends had a neck injury earlier this year and is still under a doctor's care, and had a mylegram done yesterday and they called her and said she had a vascular aneurysm and needed to see her PCP ASAP!

Is this a blood clot in the blood vessel?

[Jim Severns]

Found this at webmd.com:

Aneurysm
An aneurysm is an abnormal bulge in the wall of a blood vessel. They can form in any blood vessel, but they occur most commonly in the aorta (aortic aneurysm) which is the main blood vessel leaving the heart. The two types of aortic aneurysm are:
· Thoracic aortic aneurysm (part of aorta in the chest)
· Abdominal aortic aneurysm
Small aneurysms generally pose no threat. However, aneurysms increase a persons risk for:
· Atherosclerotic plaque (fat, cholesterol and calcium deposits) formation at the site of the aneurysm
· A clot (thrombus) may form at the site and dislodge
· Increase in the aneurysm size, causing it to press on nerves or other organs, causing pain
· Aneurysm rupture: Because the artery wall thins at this spot, it is fragile and may burst under stress. A sudden rupture of an aortic aneurysm may be life threatening