BS: Aneurysm Bronchial Artery - Any Info?

Subject: RE: BS: Aneurysm Bronchial Artery - Any Info?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 04 Mar 08 - 08:57 AM

Yeah, Donuel, old age ain't no place for sissies.

It is her aorta, not a bronchial artery as we had thought. Cardio says 1-5% chance of it rupturing for no good reason, which is small enough for me. But we'll know more after talking with Vascular person.

Spaw, maybe that's the source of those odd, occasional sounds?

Subject: RE: BS: Aneurysm Bronchial Artery - Any Info?
From: catspaw49
Date: 03 Mar 08 - 09:26 PM

What I have is an Dissecting Aortic Aneurysm. Instead of a weak spot what happens is that the Aorta,which has three walls, tears. The tear in the wall splits the one wall away from the other two and the blood flow through the falsely created tube tears out at the other end. You now have a "tube inside a tube." Any number of things can then go wrong almost immediately.

If any of the feeder arteries (brachial, renal, femoral,etc.) are open to the false lumen you're in trouble. If the tear continues past the aortic arch and into the heart, you're dead. This is what killed John Ritter. The difference between he and I is about an inch and a half......His extended into the heart. The only repair for this is to replace the aorta which is a very dicey proposition at best. I have lived with mine since 1999 and as the Vascular guy said, "If it hasn't done anything yet, it probably never will." All the same, its a bit disconcerting if you dwell on it!

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Aneurysm Bronchial Artery - Any Info?
From: Donuel
Date: 03 Mar 08 - 08:12 PM

Mrzzy your mom sounds gutsy, kinda like the old lady on a plane that is diving out of control and turns to the big strong quivering frightened man next to her and says, "You get to be my age honey, and shit like this won't bother you."

Subject: RE: BS: Aneurysm Bronchial Artery - Any Info?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 03 Mar 08 - 05:30 PM

OK - she will see a vascular person April 1 - no foolin'!

Subject: RE: BS: Aneurysm Bronchial Artery - Any Info?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 27 Feb 08 - 10:52 AM

Get advice from the doctor. If the advice is repair, strongly consider it but get a second opinion. Knowing what may cause your death is good but not dying from it is better.

Subject: RE: BS: Aneurysm Bronchial Artery - Any Info?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 27 Feb 08 - 01:40 AM

Spaw has had LOTS of things for many years.... :-P

Subject: RE: BS: Aneurysm Bronchial Artery - Any Info?
From: katlaughing
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 04:57 PM

Spaw has had one for several years; not bronchial, though.

Subject: RE: BS: Aneurysm Bronchial Artery - Any Info?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 04:43 PM

Wes, the stent I mentioned is that mesh. It's essentially a new version of the Chinese finger puzzle/lock-- a woven tube.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Aneurysm Bronchial Artery - Any Info?
From: kendall
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 01:39 PM

I have an aortic abdominal aneurysm. My Doctor is not concerned.

Subject: RE: BS: Aneurysm Bronchial Artery - Any Info?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 01:34 PM

Yeah, me too, but she doesn't want to. She had a terrible time getting over her heart surgery (over a year in intensive care!) and isn't going there any time soon. But thanks!

Subject: RE: BS: Aneurysm Bronchial Artery - Any Info?
From: Rapparee
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 01:05 PM

Anytime I see the words "Artery" and "Aneurysm" together I think, "Get to a surgeon NOW."

Subject: RE: BS: Aneurysm Bronchial Artery - Any Info?
From: Wesley S
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 12:43 PM

Aren't they using some sort of mesh net type material to give strength to the weak arterial walls? Did I see something about that on the evening news?

Subject: RE: BS: Aneurysm Bronchial Artery - Any Info?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 12:10 PM

A friend had an abdominal aorta aneurysm that sounded scary till I read up on it. They watch his type and location of aneurysm till it bulges to a clinically-significant degree, so he lived with it for years. When it got bad they went in there promptly (not as an emergency, but soonly) with a stent to strengthen the blood vessel's wall and seal off the bulge in one swell foop. He did fine once he healed up-- much as m/m describes. So I would say do your research, and then decide if you trust the docs.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Aneurysm Bronchial Artery - Any Info?
From: mack/misophist
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 11:29 AM

If the aneurysm is in a major vessel, the repair could be a cakewalk. The aneurysms in my abdominal aorta were repaired in a couple of hours by going through a small incision in the femoral artery. The only down side is that the altered blood flow seems to have caused my high blood pressure.

Subject: RE: BS: Aneurysm Bronchial Artery - Any Info?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 11:25 AM

I think the doctor said if it burst she'd be dead within 12 hours. Fine with her...

And I do know what an aneurysm is, I was wondering if anybody had any experience with them... thanks!

Subject: RE: BS: Aneurysm Bronchial Artery - Any Info?
From: Schantieman
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 09:39 AM

An aneurism is a bulge in an artery wall.

Arterial blood is under pressure - not all that high in the case of the pulmonary artery and its branches into the lungs compared with the aorta to the rest of the body. The wall of arteries is constructed very strongly, with muscle, elastic tissue and a tough fibrous layer on the ouside to resist this pressure.

Occasionally the wall has a weak bit (and what's caused that...??) which makes it give way and bulge out. I guess the muscle/elastic layer had gone but the outer fibrous layer is holding.

Ther really dangerous one is the aortic aneurism which, if it bursts altogether can be fatal almost instantly. I'd think that a bronchial artery aneurism is less dangerous but still needs seeing to.

That's about the limit of my knowledge - it's not really on the A-level Biology syllabus! However, if I can be of any more help....


All the best

Steve

Subject: BS: Aneurysm Bronchial Artery - Any Info?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 09:15 AM

Hi, this is Mom's latest news - after more than 5 years of not smoking (after 60+ years of smoking mostly non-filters) they found something in one of her lungs, around a bronchial artery, which turns out not to be a growth but a saccular aneurysm between middling and large in size. This has made her, I think, actually happy - not only does she not have a wasting terrible disease, but she also can see the light at the end of the tunnel (she is, as the Africans would say, tired). I think she likes knowing that there is something that will likely kill her quickly if it does anything at all.
Meanwhile, I've been googling and looking things up, and all I'm finding is surgical info, which she is not considering. What do all y'all knowledgeable people know?
Thanks.