Carotid Artery Aneurysm

GENERAL INFORMATION

A carotid artery aneurysm is when the wall of the vessel starts to bulge or become inflamed. The bigger the aneurysm gets, the more it will push along the walls of the vessel and make them become weak. Also, the bigger the aneurysm gets the more likely it will eventually burst. Most of these aneurysms are due to atherosclerosis and most common in people that are 60 years old or older.

SYMPTOMS

Most of the time when someone has a carotid aneurysm, they wont have any symptoms, they are usually found in x-rays taken for some other reason or sometimes they can even find them when taking an annual physical. If someone were to experience symptoms, some of them might include: Pain in the abdomen, feeling full after eating a smaller type of meal, nausea, vomiting, and thrombuses.

DIAGNOSIS

To find out if someone has a carotid artery aneurysm, a family doctor may ask the person if there is any heart disease in the family or if you smoke. Most of the time, it is diagnosed and found when a person recieves an xray, ct, or mri for another type of illness. Most of the time people do not know they have them until they burst.

TREATMENT

The way a carotid artery aneurysm is treated depends on the size. The bigger the anerysm is, the most likely it is to burst, therefore sugery will need to be done. Anyone with an aneurysm larger than 6.5 centimeters are immediately taken in for surgery. Those who have smaller aneurysms such as 3.0 centmeters, these people may be watched using ultrasound equipment. The doctors for surgery will either do an abdominal surgery and clamp off the aorta while fixing the problem, or a newer way to do it is by making small cuts in the groin to make their way to the aneurysm.