[Prince of Space]

"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."

I had this happen to me but in my carotid artery about 6 years ago. It was spontaneous and I never had a stroke, just a migraine headache for a couple of days prior along with pulsatile tinnitus (heard my pulse in my ear, loud and continuous, couldn't sleep because of it).

The doctors put me on Plavix for 6 months and it healed on its own. My grandfather had an abdominal aortic aneurysm and I have mild hypertension (not on meds yet), but otherwise no explanation was given for it. I did have a really weird and intense cold 2 weeks prior, which the docs found interesting as there does seem to be some relationship between viruses and spontaneous carotid artery dissections.

Mrs. Prince of Space

[happygrl]

Thanks for sharing this.

My mother died of a dissecting aorta, and she had been very ill previously with some virus that swelled her lymph glands.

[StayoutdaBushesWay]

Bacterial infections and even simple things as teeth cleaning, tooth extractions, etc. can lead to valvular endocarditis, don’t know if that’s what happened to you, but as I said previously anything that involves the aortic valve should be closely monitored. The aortic valve is the most scrutinized heart structure when doing an echo exam, when a problem is found it can be life changing and as an echocardiographer it is important to determine the severity.