When Senator Lindsey Graham died suddenly from an aortic dissection, most Americans were hearing the term for the first time. IMA Senior Fellow of Family Medicine Dr. Kat Lindley joined The National News Desk to explain what the condition actually is: a tear in the inner wall of the aorta, the body’s main artery, that lets blood force the layers of the vessel apart. It moves fast, and survival depends almost entirely on how quickly a person reaches a hospital.
Dr. Lindley walked through the warning signs people most often miss, including severe ripping chest pain and the abdominal pain that gets waved off as nausea or acid reflux. She explained why a routine annual physical won’t catch a dissection, but the risk factors behind it, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and atherosclerosis, can and should be watched closely. The conversation then turned to the Cyclospora outbreak spreading across several states, where she urged families to wash produce thoroughly, cook or peel when possible, and stay alert for recalls.
Check out these related resources from IMA below, followed by the full segment transcript.
Transcript
Angela Brown: The sudden death of Senator Lindsey Graham is shining a spotlight on a rare heart emergency that can turn deadly, as you just heard, in a matter of minutes. Early findings show the 71-year-old senator died from aortic dissection, a condition many Americans had never even heard of until this weekend. Joining us now is Dr. Kat Lindley, the Senior Fellow of Family Medicine with the Independent Medical Alliance. Thank you so much for joining us this morning.
Dr. Kat Lindley: Good morning. Thank you for having me.
Angela Brown: Well, Dr. Lindley, we just heard Dr. Ross describe how quickly this condition can turn fatal. Explain to us first, what is it? What is aortic dissection, and why is it so difficult to survive without immediate treatment?
Dr. Kat Lindley: Aortic dissection is a serious, life-threatening medical emergency that involves a tear in the inner layer of the aorta, which is the body’s main artery that carries oxygen-rich blood from the heart to the rest of the body. What happens is that blood surges through this tear and forces its way between the inner and middle layer of the aortic wall, splitting it apart, and that’s what we call the process of dissection. It then creates a false lumen alongside the true aortic channel, and it happens pretty fast. The rupture causes massive internal bleeding that is often fatal, but it can also compress or obstruct arteries that branch off to different organs, cutting off the blood supply. So it’s extremely important, if anyone has symptoms of severe chest pain or abdominal pain, to be close to the hospital, because the closer you are, the better your chances of survival.
Angela Brown: A lot of people may get a physical every year. Is this something you can test for?
Dr. Kat Lindley: Not really, but what you can test for is hypertension, so high blood pressure. You need to make sure that you have your high blood pressure under control. You can check for hyperlipidemia. You can check for diabetes. In most cases, people who have this have a severe history of atherosclerosis, which are lipid plaque deposits in our arteries. Those are the type of things you can check for. In general, aortic dissection is not something that you would see on the annual exam.
Angela Brown: Many people assume that sudden chest pain is a heart attack. How does aortic dissection present differently than something like that?
Dr. Kat Lindley: Well, it can present as severe ripping chest pain, but another common presentation that people always overlook is abdominal pain. It can be severe abdominal pain. And often they get vague symptoms of nausea or dyspepsia, which is acid reflux. I would say if you ever feel like you’re having severe abdominal pain or severe chest pain, the closer you are to the hospital, the better your chances of survival.
Angela Brown: We have to talk about this parasitic outbreak, with cases confirmed across the country now under investigation. For people who’ve never heard of this, what’s happening here? We’re showing people what it looks like, because the list of symptoms is really rough, they’re nasty symptoms. What’s going on here?
Dr. Kat Lindley: Yes, we’re having an outbreak of Cyclospora. It’s called Cyclospora cayetanensis, which is a microscopic parasite that causes this intestinal illness, severe diarrhea. And many people are having a hard time because usually, if you get a case of diarrhea, it goes away within 24 to 48 hours, and this one is really lingering, and people are becoming dehydrated.
Angela Brown: Is this rare? I mean, we have cases every year, right? Is this more than usual? So what’s sparked all of this, if we have these increased cases? Do we know?
Dr. Kat Lindley: I’m not sure. It’s not really rare. Like you said, it happens throughout the year, we have episodes. I think we’re just having a major cluster of it in different states. I believe Michigan is one that’s been hit pretty bad, and it’s probably not exactly that time of year right now, and we’re just seeing too many cases and hospitalizations from it.
Angela Brown: Yeah, I’m from Michigan, so I’ve been watching that closely. Now, investigators believe lettuce or salad greens may be involved. I know we have some restaurants now who are deciding not to use lettuce, but there are still no recalls or specific source identified as of right now, I believe. What should families do right now to protect themselves and avoid getting sick?
Dr. Kat Lindley: The most important thing is to wash your vegetables and fruit very thoroughly. But to be honest, you need to make sure that you’re watching for recalls. Like you said, we don’t have any. I suspect that we’re going to start getting some, but you need to thoroughly wash all your fruit and veggies. You need to cook your produce if possible, peel the fruit and things like that if you can, and avoid raw products at this time, because we don’t know exactly where the outbreaks are coming from, but we do know that it’s affecting our fruits and vegetables.
Angela Brown: Well, thank you so much. Senior Fellow of Family Medicine with the Independent Medical Alliance, Dr. Kat Lindley. Thank you so much. You can see their website right up here. If you want to log on to their website, imahealth.org, to get more information. Thanks for joining us, doctor.
