Grant Wahl‘s spouse, Dr. Celine Gounder, revealed to CBS News on Wednesday that the famend soccer journalist died on the World Cup in Qatar on Friday resulting from an aortic aneurysm that ruptured.
“It’s just one of these things that had been likely brewing for years, and for whatever reason it happened at this point in time,” Gounder advised “CBS Mornings” co-host Gayle King in her first interview since her husband’s dying on the age of 49.
An aortic aneurysm is a balloon-like bulge within the aorta, which is the physique’s largest artery — “sort of the trunk of all the blood vessels,” mentioned Gounder, who’s an infectious illness specialist and CBS News medical contributor. An aortic aneurysm can “dissect” or — as in Wahl’s case — rupture.
A rupture is when an aneurysm fully bursts, inflicting life-threatening inside bleeding, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explains. A dissection is when blood that’s being pumped splits the layers of the artery wall, leading to blood leakage.
“Though aortic aneurysms do not directly cause death, complications arising from an aneurysm — such as dissection or rupture — cause approximately 15,000 deaths annually” within the U.S., says the Aortic Center at Columbia University. It notes they’re “more common in men over the age of 60.”
Aneurysms can develop anyplace alongside the aorta, however most happen within the space of the stomach, the place they typically develop slowly and are arduous to detect, the Mayo Clinic says.
“Some aneurysms never rupture,” the Mayo Clinic says. “Many start small and stay small. Others grow larger over time, sometimes quickly.”
Lifestyle and household historical past can play a task in threat for an aortic aneurysm, that are seen most frequently in males, individuals over 65, people who smoke, and folks with hypertension, in addition to those that have a household historical past of them, in keeping with the Cleveland Clinic.
“Smoking is the most important behavior related to aortic aneurysm,” the CDC says.
People are sometimes unaware they’ve one, since there are sometimes no signs till it ruptures. Once it does, somebody could expertise a speedy pulse, lightheadedness or dizziness, and extreme and sudden again or belly ache, in keeping with the Cleveland Clinic.
When signs are current earlier than a rupture, they will embrace shortness of breath, feeling full after even small meals, ache on the aneurysm website, swelling of the neck, face or arms, in addition to ache whereas swallowing.
According to the CDC, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends an ultrasound screening for belly aortic aneurysms in males who’re between the ages of 65 and 75 and have smoked.
The Mayo Clinic advises individuals to train, eat wholesome, not smoke, and hold ldl cholesterol and blood strain beneath management to assist stop an aortic aneurysm or to maintain an present one from worsening.
“Finding an aortic aneurysm before it ruptures offers your best chance of recovery,” the Cleveland Clinic says.