Posted on 12/20/2010 10:19:32 PM PST by neverdem
The death of the veteran diplomat Richard C. Holbrooke last week shocked Americans and his many colleagues around the world. Mr. Holbrooke, 69, was a larger-than-life figure, a fearless and robust man who was apparently struck down without warning.
He became ill on a Friday, and was dead by Monday. According to government officials, the cause was a tear in his aorta, the artery that carries blood from the heart to vessels that feed the rest of the body.
Mr. Holbrooke underwent 21 hours of surgery from Friday to Saturday to repair the damage, and then another seven-hour operation on Sunday, all at George Washington University Medical Center in Washington. But no amount of surgery could save him.
Aortic tears may be unfamiliar to most people, but they kill at least 2,000 Americans a year, and possibly more, because some of the deaths may be mistakenly attributed to heart attacks. Tears are more common in men than in women, and most likely in people from 40 to 70. Their causes include uncontrolled high blood pressure, atherosclerosis and a genetic tendency to have weak tissue or an abnormal valve in the aorta. There may be no warning signs before the tear occurs.
The aorta is the biggest artery in the body, more than an inch wide in some spots. It has three layers; most tears start in the innermost one. Blood can then force its way into the tear and separate the layers, or peel them apart — a type of damage called aortic dissection.
A flap and a “false channel” can form inside the aorta and impede blood flow. And the pressure from the blood can keep enlarging the tear and the flap. If the tear goes all the way through and the aorta ruptures, death can be almost immediate...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
An enlarged aorta will usually appear in the chest x rays and ultrasound exams of most patients. The use of a blood dye in angiograms and/or CT scans (computed tomography scans) will aid in diagnosing and visualizing the dissection.
An enlarged aorta will usually appear in the chest x rays and ultrasound exams of most patients. The use of a blood dye in angiograms and/or CT scans (computed tomography scans) will aid in diagnosing and visualizing the dissection.
Thank you very much.
I give all credit to God. I couldn’t do it without Him. If He didn’t show up, I’d have been toast long ago. But I really do love my job.
My brother might have died from this. Last year, Monday, he complained of chest pains & went to UCLA hospital, which did tests but found nothing conclusive. They told him to come back Friday for a follow-up.
Thursday afternoon, at work, he simply dropped dead. Because Jewish law prohibited an autopsy, we’ll never know for sure what killed him.
Thus proving that Castro (or whosoever banned it) has much more sense than Propagandist Moore.
I'm assuming that a "trans thoracic" ultrasound is what I had. It was described to me as being an echo cardiogram. Are those just two different names for the same procedure?
When you talk about a "trans esophageal" looking from the inside out, I'm thinking that you're talking about having an instrument shoved down your throat. Is that the basic idea? I definitely didn't have one of those.
I'm assuming that a "trans thoracic" ultrasound is what I had. It was described to me as being an echo cardiogram. Are those just two different names for the same procedure?
When you talk about a "trans esophageal" looking from the inside out, I'm thinking that you're talking about having an instrument shoved down your throat. Is that the basic idea? I definitely didn't have one of those.
Yep, that’s how it’s done, open up and say ah!
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