Lebensgefahr Aneurysma: Abruptes & qualvolles Verbluten? Die große Gefahr in unseren Adern!

A burst aneurysm almost always means life-threatening. The tick aneurysm often remains symptom-free and undetected for a long time until it bursts. On the other hand, the knowledge of having an aneurysm that could burst is of course also a massive psychological strain. Have you ever heard of an aneurysm? Many people are afraid of it, but do not know exactly what is behind it. Often you only hear horror news with it, horror stories. Often the vessel changes are also referred to as a ticking time bomb, because they can lead to sudden and not rarely fatal bleeding. As an emergency doctor, I of course experience this from time to time, that even young patients get something like this. Unfortunately, there are some risk factors, such as older age, smoking, which can make the development of aneurysms cheaper and which affect some of us. There are also certain diseases that you can have that increase the risk. Or have you just received the diagnosis of aneurysm? This is often an insane shock and raises many questions and fears. And that's why I want to make a video about this now, to clarify in detail what an aneurysm actually is, whether and which signs there are and of course what the treatment options look like. Hello, my name is Dr. Tobias Weigel. With my YouTube channel, I would like to make a contribution to clarify medically understandable and correct about diseases, causes of these diseases, what we can do about it ourselves, also what the doctors, the medicine, do about it. And if you don't want to miss anything, feel free to subscribe to my channel now. Estimated 3-9% of all men under the age of 65 develop an aneurysm in the pectoral vertebra. And also, for example, in the chest, in the brain, also in the knee joint arteries, the diseased vessel extensions can form. Most of the time, they don't feel anything. But when they burst, there is often a risk of life, especially an aneurysm, of course, in the stomach. You suddenly lose a lot of blood, I've already experienced that as an emergency doctor. Likewise, an aneurysm in the brain is an absolute risk of life. Unfortunately, I've already experienced that as an emergency doctor. So, before we move on to my own business, it was an internal leap, but also important for us. In general, a healthy lifestyle is of course A and O. And nutrition is simply fundamental to what we eat. And there are, for example, my advisors, the best foods for a healthy diet. So if that interests you, for example, or also my advisor on the topic of the immune system, the cardiovascular system, you should take a look at my shop. What is an aneurysm? Under an aneurysm, you understand a locally limited sagging of an artery, i.e. a blood vessel that directs the blood from the heart into the body. And they arise due to a weakening of the respective vessel wall, which can either be born or developed. Therefore, diseases that have to do with connective tissue weakness have an increased risk of aneurysms. How exactly all this happens, I'll go into that in more detail in a moment. In specialist circles, an aneurysm is usually referred to as when the affected vessel reaches one and a half times its normal size. In principle, such a sagging of each artery is possible. So you have to imagine it like a garden hose and then at a certain point there is always such a sagging of this hose. Predestined, however, is an aneurysm on the abdominal artery, also in the area of ​​the chest, as well as, of course, in the brain, also in the knee joints, because they are exposed to a particularly high pressure there and also due to the physiological and mechanical stress. It is assumed that about three, three and a half, maybe four percent of the total population have an aneurysm in the abdominal aorta, a little less than two to three percent have an aneurysm in the brain and about 0.5 percent have an aneurysm in the knee joint artery. Depending on the location, their size can range from a few millimeters to a few centimeters. Some aneurysms get bigger over time. This often happens slowly, over the years. The growth is often at most perhaps a few millimeters per year. But there are also aneurysms that hardly change at all, with which you basically live your whole life, where nothing happens, and those that grow very quickly. This is very individual and of course also affects their further prognosis and the need for treatment. In addition, aneurysm growth is directly related to this crucial question. What makes an aneurysm so dangerous? The main danger of an aneurysm is that it can burst under certain circumstances. This is referred to as a rupture. The bigger the aneurysm is, if this is the tube, this is the artery and this is the aneurysm, the bigger it is here and the more pressure there is, the higher the probability that there is room. But other factors, which I will discuss in a moment, can also influence the risk that there is room. If there is room for an aneurysm, especially in the chest, in the abdomen and in the brain, it is a life-threatening condition, because here we have the skull and it is a bone and then the tissue cannot expand here. Because with an aneurysm, if there is room, it often leads to massive internal bleeding, which can quickly lead to shock states, a cardiac arrhythmia, i.e. cardiac arrest. In the brain, there is a so-called hemorrhagic stroke, i.e. brain bleeding. Estimatedly at least two-thirds of people with an aneurysm have a chest stroke and half of all people with a burst abdominal artery die, i.e. a very high rate of death. The same applies to people with a burst brain aneurysm. The survivors, you have to say, often remain light, if you are lucky, up to severe neurological limitations, including lifelong need for care. You have to know that too. You are probably wondering how likely it is that an aneurysm will occur. Unfortunately, there is no clear answer to this. You can't look at the MRT and say the probability is now 50 percent or so. This depends on individual factors and, above all, on bad luck or luck that it doesn't happen. This includes, as already mentioned, the size, but also the growth rate and, of course, the location. Where is it? Aneurysms of the kneecaps, for example, rarely burst. However, as you will hear in a moment, other risks also play an important role, but also influential factors such as smoking. Unfortunately, there are no exact numbers for the probability of rupture. But it is assumed that many aneurysms hardly change and therefore cause neither burst nor discomfort in a lifetime and therefore often remain unrecognized. You probably don't know if you have an aneurysm. I don't know either, because there have been no complaints so far. And then you don't know, you don't investigate. Another important complication of an aneurysm I can't leave unmentioned either, and that is the risk of a cramping. Because the blood flow in an aneurysm often changes, such a vortex, so to speak, and, for example, it can become sluggish or it can lead to inconvenience, blood clots can form. This happens particularly often with aneurysms in the knee joint. If the aneurysm is released, it can then move with a blood flow and clog vessels in a completely different place, which can lead to a thrombosis, a stroke or even a pulmonary embolism, for example. So aneurysm is not only dangerous that it bursts, but also as a cause for a stroke. How do I notice an aneurysm? With these, unfortunately, often gloomy outlooks in the event of a rupture of the aneurysm, you want to know for sure whether there are at least early signs for an aneurysm that it has burst. Unfortunately, I don't have any particularly good news or news either. Aneurysms often remain completely symptom-free up to their cramps and are with a little luck perhaps rather accidentally discovered during a routine examination. But then you have to know, well, that makes the affected person pretty crazy, because you know, oh, now I have something that's like a ticking time bomb. In rare cases, aneurysms can be noticeable depending on the situation and size. So a brain aneurysm can be noticeable in rare cases, such as headaches, vision problems, blemishes of the eyelids, for example. But these are so unspecific symptoms and you don't immediately think of an aneurysm. If an aneurysm bursts, survivors often speak of, for example in the head, the worst headache, an absolute headache of destruction they have ever felt. Logical, because the sudden bleeding cannot escape through the massive skull, here our bone, and thus exerts pressure on the brain. And that's also what makes it absolutely life-threatening. In addition, there is also nausea, vomiting, nausea, epileptic seizures. And that's what I experience as an emergency doctor. The patient is lying there, maybe he had an epileptic seizure. At first you don't know why he has it at all. And the patient may always get more and more tired, so to speak, completely loses consciousness, has to be intubated by me, we bring him to the hospital, then of course immediately to a neurosurgery, then the imaging is done and then you can see that the whole brain is already full of blood. And unfortunately this has already happened, also with young patients. So, but now away from the brain. Also a belly or a chest aneurysm usually remains painless. Large sagging can occur through, for example, chest, belly, back, flank pain. Again, there are many different causes that can be. A rupture of such an aneurysm, which you usually only notice through very strong chest, very strong belly, very strong back pain, which can also stretch into the sides, into the ligaments. That's always so strong that you say, oh, they've never had that before. Often it happens suddenly. Due to the massive bleeding, it can quickly lead to a circulatory failure and unconsciousness. This really happens within 5, 6, 7, 10 minutes. Without emergency medical care, immediate care, the bleeding usually does not stop, so that those affected are internally bleeding. As already said, aneurysms of the kneecap artery only rarely burst. For this, the risk of a thrombosis is higher than with the other aneurysms or aneurysm forms. The symptoms can be caused by a grunt in the leg from a slight pain, up to a strong pain of rest, a feeling of deafness, a loss of function of the leg. These are the typical symptoms of a thrombosis. If the grunt is torn away by the blood flow, and this can of course happen, there is also typically the risk of a lung embolism. Lung embolism means that there is a blockage here in the lung, you can no longer breathe properly, that is, you get breathing difficulties, shortness of breath, and that has nothing to do with an aneurysm in the first step. Why does an aneurysm occur? Cause and risk factors. Whether in the brain, in the abdomen, in the legs, an aneurysm is always the result of a weakened vessel. In some cases, such as in the case of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, it is a congenital disease. There is a typical weakness of the ligament, a typical risk of aneurysm. In most cases, such a vessel damage develops over the course of life. Probably a mixture of weakened ligament tissue, increased pressure at this point, and then bad luck. Bad luck, especially at the moment when it bursts, unfortunately you have to say. It can hit us all and at any time. We often don't know how high our individual risk is. But there are some risk factors that can make it better. I have already mentioned some of them. In particular, there are various cardiovascular diseases. In more than half of all aneurysm cases, a vessel calcification, a so-called arteriosclerosis, is the cause. You can imagine that the vessel, like a garden hose, is then stifled. And then there is arteriosclerosis. This increases the risk, of course, that it bursts. Arteriosclerosis reduces elasticity, the flexibility of the vessels as well. The pressure in the vessels is therefore higher. High blood pressure is of course an increased risk factor. Of course, it also increases the risk of rupture. Since such cardiovascular diseases are typical signs of old age, arteriosclerosis cannot be completely prevented, of course, compulsory and higher life expectancy are a risk factor. A large part of aneurysm patients are over 65 years old. The same goes for smoking, a risk factor that they can influence themselves. Gender also makes a difference. We can have a bad influence. Men have significantly more to fight with aneurysms than women. That's also interesting to know. Keyword actually, yes, connective tissue weakness. So men have a much greater risk of aneurysms. How is an aneurysm diagnosed and treated? Because they often remain asymptomatic, most aneurysms are, as I said, a random finding, for example, in the context of a stomach ultrasound. To learn more about the size and the risk of rupture, further imaging procedures are then added, as is typically done in CT and MRT. And based on these images, your doctor can then estimate whether a rupture of the aneurysm is likely and of course also the location, whether it is a dangerous place, for example, whether an operation is ultimately necessary. And especially operations are of course a dangerous catch. And there, too, you know examples of prominent people who had an aneurysm in their head that should be prevented, so to speak, and where the aneurysm unfortunately burst during the operation and it can then also lead to severe damage. That means such operations are not risky. Of course, you should know that and in general, not every aneurysm is treated immediately. Smaller and medium-sized aneurysms with low risk of rupture are first often checked once or twice a year. Do they continue to grow? Do they change? Carrying the knowledge of aneurysms around is of course often very stressful for those affected. Often, therefore, accompanying psychological care is also offered and you should always recommend really, if you know you have an aneurysm and you know you have such a ticking time bomb, that changes the affected person. If, on the other hand, the aneurysm is already very large and or grows quickly, then only operational measures are in question. The exact method can vary depending on the size, location and individual circumstances of the aneurysm, of course. There is no general answer. In the case of a brain aneurysm, there are usually two common treatment options available. One method is the so-called clipping, in which the aneurysm is closed with a metal clip, so to speak, and is separated from the blood circulation. Can you imagine? This is, so to speak, the artery, here is, so to speak, the excision and then it is clipped like this. This requires an open operation, in which the skull is opened to reach the aneurysm. The second method is the so-called coiling, this is such a minimally invasive procedure, in which a catheter is pushed through the blood vessels to the aneurysm in the brain. And there are then such small platinum coils inserted into the aneurysm, so to speak, to fill it and block the blood flow with it. Various options are also available for the treatment of a chest or abdominal aneurysm. Of course, this is not done by neurosurgeons, but often by vascular surgeons. The endovascular repair is a minimally invasive procedure, in which a so-called standcraft is introduced into the artery via an incision in the strip, for example. This stabilizes the vessel and also tightens the aneurysm. The open surgical repair is another option in which an incision is made in the abdomen and the aneurysm is sewn directly or repaired by inserting, for example, a vessel prosthesis. An aneurysm of the knee joint artery is also often operated on and then removed operatively by replacing a section of the artery that the surgeon has previously removed elsewhere in the leg. If you are interested, if this has helped you now, then please comment on the video once, maybe write your thoughts on it once, we are happy to discuss it. Maybe you have experienced this yourself in the family circle, that someone had an aneurysm. Thank you very much and stay loyal to me!