Team up with ABC2 to blow the whistle and tune in to Whistle Blowers with Scott Broom and Jesse Jones. HealthScout Abdominal aortic aneurysms affect more than 1.5 million Americans. The frightening thing about this disease is that really are no signs or symptoms. According to Dr. Frank Criado of Union Memorial Hospital this condition affects about 2 percent of males over age 55. Patients with hypertension and a family history are most at risk of developing an aneurysm.
Conventional treatment involves removing of the aneurysm and replacing it with an artificial graft.
Recovery usually takes about 10 weeks. A new less invasive technique is being tested at Union Memorial Hospital since 1997. The Endovascular Stent Graft Device is inserted through two small incisions in the groin. It works like a spring mechanism when released inside the aortic wall. It affixes itself to the inner surface of the blood vessel and becomes an internal bypass to reduce the pressure on the aneurysm sac and treat the aneurysm.