[SEL] O.T. Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm

[John Culp]

In skinny people you may be able to feel one by pressing down on the 
tummy. A big, firm, pulsating mass in the middle. They're often found 
incidentally on CT scans or ultrasounds done for some other reason. 
It's getting common for health fair-type events to offer ultrasound 
scanning for aneurysms, screening for blockages in the carotid 
arteries, and also blood flow measurements in the leg arteries.

Something I've been doing a fair amount of lately is sending patients 
with difficult-to-control hypertension for CT angiograms of their renal 
arteries. I've turned up several that got a lot better after their 
renal arteries were dilated and stented open.

John Culp
Bristol, Tennessee, USA