SAN DIEGO, October 10, 2012 –
In January, 1988, Vice President Joe Biden, then Senator from Delaware, was diagnosed with two brain aneurysms. In February, 1988, he underwent surgery to repair one of the weakened/ballooning arteries on one side of his brain. Shortly thereafter, he suffered a blood clot in his lungs known as a pulmonary embolus, which required timely, life-saving hospitalization and treatment. In August, 1988, the second damaged artery on the other side of the Vice President’s brain was surgically mended in a 270 minute operative procedure under general anesthesia.
People with a history of blood clots, brain surgery and/or brain aneurysms are at a significantly increased risk of ‘stroke’ (a layman’s term to denote a lack of blood flow and oxygen to brain tissue due to a clot-induced vessel blockage or outright vessel rupture and bleeding). The Vice President, today, remains at an increased risk for stroke.
.
