Aortas

[Connemmara]

A lady I have known for a cuppla months in CU told me on Monday night there - that would be her last night there for a while as she was going in for a procedure (something to do with her aortas in her legs) or top of legs.

Anybody know what this is about. Bless her she looked worried and sick. Con

I always thought your aortas were in your heart.

[yogasun]

It's the largest artery in the body and it comes from the left ventricle (if my biology knowledge serves me correctly without googling).

[Baldric]

Have a look here conne,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aorta

[Mosaic]

Sounds like she might be having something done that involves the tiny flexible probe travelling in through the arteries starting at the thigh. It's very widely used as a routeway for heart and arterial surgery of different sorts but as to what your friend is going to have done, I've no idea.

[Cloverjo]

Would it be to fix an aortic aneurysm? It's a big op, but quite a common procedure nowadays. The aorta is the main artery of the body that plumbs into the heart and has branches into the tops of the legs. If the aneurysm (if that's what it is) is in the leg part of the aorta, there are fewer potential problems in surgery than if it were nearer the heart.

[pixie373]

Depends what the problem is. Are they inserting a line in her groin going towards the heart and treating her that way?

[yogasun]

Yes, as Mosaic has said, it might be to put in a stent up through groin to possibly help with an aneurysm of the aorta.

[Sqad]

She probably has intermittent claudication, blockage of the arteries of the legs causing calf pain when walking.

Angiograms conform this blockage and a graft between the aorta (in the abdomen) and passed the blockage in the artery to maintain the blood flow.

[Connemmara]

thanks for your answers.