Pay attention to your aorta
Taking a break from politics for a moment…
My wife and I attended a talk on aneurysms this week at the UW Medical Center. One of the speakers was my wife’s neurosurgeon, Dr. Laligam Sekhar. He’s world famous and an innovator in his field, and his talk focused on brain aneurysms and their treatment. That was very eye-opening for us as we got a detailed look at the kind of surgery she experienced.
The other speaker was the head of vascular surgery at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Dr. Benjamin Starnes. He talked about aortic aneurysms. They’re a bulging of the aorta, usually in the upper abdomen. Like brain aneurysms, they can rupture, often causing death. But treatments have advanced at an incredible pace in just a couple of years, and patients can often be treated without open surgery and go on to lead long, productive lives. The issue is detection. He urges everyone, especially men, and especially people with a history of smoking, to have a simple ultra-sound examination at about age 65. It can detect an aneurysm and its size, allowing the patient and doctor to determine if treatment is necessary.
It could save your life.