Kurt Moyer, Director of Clinical Services, Dr. Aziz explains lifesaving information about Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm.
The aorta is the body’s largest artery and carries blood from your heart to all of your vital organs, legs, and feet. An Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm occurs when the wall of the aorta progressively weakens and begins to bulge.
If allowed to continue to enlarge the aorta may rupture if left untreated, causing severe internal bleeding and possibly death. The risk of rupture is directly related to the size (diameter).
Risk factors include:
- Age: Everyone over the age of 60.
- Sex: Males are more prone than females.
- Race: Caucasian
- Family history of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm
- Smoking (over 100 cigarettes in a lifetime)
- High blood pressure
- High cholesterol
Medicare offers a one-time, free screening as part of the Welcome to Medicare physical as long as it conducted in the first six months of enrollment. Screening is covered by most insurance firstname.lastname@example.org