Many people are unfamiliar with the term aortic dissection and do not pay enough attention to the risk of this disease. In fact, aortic dissection is not uncommon, and it poses great danger to people, which needs to be highly valued.
1、 What is aortic dissection? A normal aorta has three layers of structure, namely the adventitia, media, and intima. If the aortic intima is ruptured by high-pressure blood flow, blood will flow between the adventitia, media, and intima, forming a dissection like change called aortic dissection. If blood flows into the interlayer, due to the high resistance in front, blood clots will form.
2、 Causes of aortic dissection include hypertension and arteriosclerosis, connective tissue disease, trauma, congenital cardiovascular disease, and pregnancy.
1. Hypertension, atherosclerosis, and aortic dissection are mostly caused by hypertension. Under high pressure, arterial disease can be in an emergency state for a long time, and elastic fibers can undergo cystic degeneration or necrosis, leading to rupture of intima and formation of dissection.
2. Patients with connective tissue disease and Marfan syndrome are prone to damage due to thinning of the aortic wall caused by connective tissue lesions.
3. Congenital cardiovascular diseases, such as hypertension caused by congenital aortic stenosis or severe trauma to the mitral valve of the aortic valve, can lead to local tearing of the aortic bulla. About half of female patients with aortic dissection under the age of 44 are recommended to take daily medication, and the onset of symptoms often occurs between 7-9 months of pregnancy, which may be related to gestational hypertension syndrome, aortic necrosis, and other rare causes such as syphilis, endocarditis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and multiple nodular arteritis.
3、 Classification
Treatment methods vary depending on the location of aortic dissection. In order to facilitate clinical diagnosis and guide treatment, various typing methods have emerged. There are currently two popular classification methods internationally:
1. DeBakey classification: divided into three types. Type I involves an intimal tear located in the ascending aorta or arch, extending to the arch and descending aorta, and even reaching the lower limb arteries. This includes cases where the tear is located in the left arch and the endometrium is retrogradely peeled off to the ascending aorta.
Type II intimal tear is the same as type I, and hematoma dissection is limited to the ascending aorta and arch.
The type III intimal tear is located at the aortic isthmus and distal to the left subclavian artery.
2. Stanford classification. It is divided into two types: Stanford A and Stanford B. Type A includes Debekay I, II, and those with a rupture located in the left arch and retrograde dissection to the ascending aorta; Type B refers to cases where intimal tear is located in the isthmus of the aortic arch and spreads below the thoracic aorta.
4、 Preventive measures
The main causes of aortic dissection are atherosclerosis and hypertension. Therefore, in order to prevent aortic dissection, we need to prevent atherosclerosis and hypertension.
The main ways to prevent atherosclerosis are to quit smoking, abstain from eating, exercise and control basic diseases, such as hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, etc. One way to prevent it is to change lifestyle habits and exercise appropriately, and the other is to have a low salt and low-fat diet and engage in appropriate physical exercise.
When atherosclerosis has appeared, in addition to the above methods, oral drugs can also be taken to help fight atherosclerosis, and basic diseases such as blood pressure and blood sugar can also be controlled to prevent it.
In short, it is recommended that patients maintain good lifestyle habits, pay attention to rest, and avoid excessive fatigue.