At the St. Panteleimon Hospital of the First Medical Association of Lviv, doctors saved two men with a large aneurysm of the aorta, which also spread to the iliac arteries, in one day.
The first patient, Petro, complained of lower back pain. No painkillers helped the man, and his legs began to lose sensitivity. In 12 hours, another sick person – Nazar – turned to the doctors with a similar problem. After a thorough examination of the patients, it became clear that both men had aneurysms of the abdominal aorta and iliac arteries. It is diagnosed in only 15% of patients with aneurysms in general. Both patients needed immediate surgery.
“In our patients, the condition was further complicated by the fact that a large aneurysm, 6 cm in diameter, also spread to the iliac arteries, which supply blood to the pelvis and large intestine. Due to compression of the arteries, the patients felt weakness in their legs,” the doctors explain.
Peter’s vascular surgeons removed the aneurysm and installed a bifurcation, that is, a branched vascular prosthesis, and thus restored blood flow to the pelvic organs and left leg. After that, doctors performed a linear prosthesis of the iliac artery, restoring the blood supply to the right leg.
After removing the aneurysm of the aorta and both common iliac arteries, doctors installed the same bifurcation prosthesis to Nazarov. It is sewn to the branch of the iliac artery on one side, and to the end of the common femoral artery on the other. In this way, the surgeons restored blood flow to both lower limbs and pelvic organs. Both operations lasted four hours and were successful.
On the 10th day after the interventions, both Peter and Nazar were discharged home without any complaints.
Note that aortic aneurysm is a pathological expansion of the main artery in the human body. The main reason for the appearance of this disease is atherosclerosis (a chronic disease in which cholesterol accumulates on the walls of blood vessels) and the destruction of the elastic fibers of the aortic wall. The aneurysm itself is dangerous due to possible sudden rupture, which in 90% of cases leads to death. At the same time, the disease is usually asymptomatic.