Thanks for the good thoughts and the info you could give me. I hope that all is going well for you.
I've got the anatomy down pat and know that the mortality rate for a ruptured iliac aneurysm is up around 80%, so I'm very grateful that the poor pulses in his leg led to the angio which found them. We expected that he'd have a stent put into his calf but instead he's facing life threatening surgery.
I know most of the risks as well, from nerve damage, to clots, pulmonary embolisms and strokes. What has me concerned is the kidney pain that's been ignored. With a history of stones, both he and his GP decided to wait it out and see what happened. It never occurred to Dad to discuss this with the surgeon and I know the aneurysm could be causing hydronephrosis. I don't know how this would/could complicate the surgery.
Most of the info I've found about
these aneurysms consists of short case studies which describe the presenting symptoms, mention the type of procedure and the outcome, but these are far short on the details of the actual surgery. I've been told that both iliac arteries and 3-4 inches of the aorta will be removed and replaced with tubing. How? is what I'm really after. Sigh.
The other thing that really interests me is that all of the case studies I've read describe an aneurysm on one side or the other. I've seen nothing about
bilateral aneurysms. That's Dad for ya', just gotta be different!
Once he heals from this surgery, we'll have to figure out how they're going to get around the 6 inch occlusion in his popliteal artery! Just one great barrel of fun.
I guess it's back to poring through search engine results. Be well everyone!
Keah a.k.a. Wormy
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