An aortic dissection, the reported cardiovascular condition that suddenly claimed the life of South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham earlier this month, is “always an emergency situation and it’s as complex as cardiac surgery gets,” says Jupiter cardiologist Dr. Mark Sims.
Other high-profile cases of folks dying suddenly and unexpectedly from an aortic dissection include actors John Ritter and Alan Thicke, U.S. Diplomat Richard Holbrooke, U.S. Olympic volleyball player Flo Hyman, and Depeche Mode keyboardist Andy Fletcher.
The aorta, which is the body’s largest artery and connects to the heart, consists of three connected layers: inner, middle, and outer. If the inner layer tears, blood enters the vessel, weakens it, and then surges into the middle layer.
This can cause the inner and middle layers to separate — in other words, dissect.
Sims likens it to “pulling apart two plies of tissue paper.”
South Carolina emergency physician Dr. Kenneth Perry explained it to FOX News by equating the aorta to a hose: “The wall of the hose has multiple layers to it, and if the layers separate, the water can no longer pass down the regular opening in the tube,” he said. “Often, this starts as a very small tear that keeps progressing because of the water pressure.”
The patient’s life is in danger, explains Sims, primarily because of the following possible complications:
When the 71-year-old Graham was rushed to the emergency room, doctors had no way of immediately knowing that his aorta was dissected.
That’s because many aortic-dissection symptoms — which include severe chest and/or upper back pain, shortness of breath, and/or loss of consciousness — often mirror other cardiac conditions, such as cardiac arrest (which is when the heart stops beating completely and must be resuscitated via manual compressions and defibrillation).
The quickest way to determine if a patient has an aortic dissection is via a CT-with-contrast scan (a CT, aka “computed tomography,” scan with contrast uses X-rays combined with special dyes to create cross-sectional images of the body).
Symptoms of aortic dissection
According to Cleveland Clinic Florida cardiologist Dr. Diego Sadler, who also specializes in cardio-oncology, these are the common symptoms of aortic dissection that patients often experience:
Risk factors for aortic dissection
Experts believe that an aortic dissection happens because there’s a slow breakdown of the cells in the walls of the aorta. The breakdown has likely been occurring silently and symptom-free for several years before the weakened area finally separates.
Dallas, Texas cardiologist Dr. Ann Marie Navar told NBC’s Today show that “if you can diagnose it quickly enough, it often requires emergency surgery, and that can be lifesaving. But if it happens quickly and you don’t have time to get to the hospital, then you die.”
The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute says that about 13,000 Americans die annually from the condition, and Sadler added that statistics show that 40% of people who suffer a sudden, acute aortic dissection die virtually immediately from a complete rupture and resultant internal bleed out.
Sadler noted that, while aortic dissection often occurs suddenly and with no diagnosed prior cardiovascular disease, the following are often risk factors for experiencing an acute (sudden onset) aortic dissection:
What cases like Graham’s and the other high-profile ones show us all is that aortic dissection, while relatively rare, is a dire condition that can claim a patient’s life before he or she even arrives at a hospital.
Steve Dorfman is a journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network of Florida. He writes about all aspects of health, fitness and wellness. If you have news tips, please send them to sdorfman@pbpost.com. Help support our local journalism, subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Understanding the rare heart condition that killed Lindsey Graham
Reporting by Steve Dorfman, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
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By Steve Dorfman, Palm Beach Post | USA TODAY Network
