 It's aortic aneurysms. Aortic aneurysms can be in two different locations and have different treatments and different associations. These two different locations include the abdominal aneurysms and thoracic aneurysms. Abdominal aneurysms are associated with atherosclerosis. So if you have atherosclerosis, you have an increased risk of forming an abdominal aortic aneurysm. We can also increase the risk of abdominal aortic aneurysms with tobacco use. Once again, as we know with atherosclerosis, an increase in age will increase our risks of an abdominal aortic aneurysm, sex, specifically male genders, and then family history is another risk factor associated with abdominal aortic aneurysms. The diagnostic squella associated with abdominal aortic aneurysms are palpable pulsatile masses located within the abdominal cavity. As you can see here in this picture, the abdominal aortic aneurysm typically is going to be inferrenal, so beyond the renal arteries in the abdomen, and it will be a palpable mass within the abdomen that it pulses with each heartbeat. Thoracic aortic aneurysms, or located in the thoracic chest, are associated with cystic medial degeneration. We increase our risk for thoracic aortic aneurysms with hypertension, patients that have a bicuspid aortic valve, and connective tissue diseases, such as Marfan syndrome. Continuing on, aortic dissection is an intimal tear that forms a false lumen within the aorta and allows blood to accumulate within that false lumen. Patients will often complain of a tearing chest pain, and that chest pain will specifically radiate to the back between the scapula. On chest x-ray, we can see mediastinal widening, which is a sign of a aortic dissection. There are two different types of aortic dissections. There is a Stanford A type, which involves the ascending aorta, so the Stanford A involves the ascending aorta, which moves upwards in the chest. This can extend beyond the aortic arch and into the descending aorta. It is worth noting that this can result in an aortic regerge back into the left ventricle of the heart, as well as a cardiac tamponade. The treatment for a Stanford type A aortic dissection is surgery. We must go in and correct that dissection to return normal blood flow to the upper extremities and to all of the organs of the body. The second type of aortic dissection is known as a Stanford type B. Stanford type B is usually distal to the left subclavian artery, which begins right here. So that intimal tear begins, allows blood to form within that false lumen, and that is going to be involving the descending aorta only. A complication associated with a Stanford type B aortic dissection is if the dissection gets low enough to cut off the mesenteric arteries or the renal arteries, and we can have complete blood flow loss to those arteries due to that dissection. Typically, we will treat this with beta blockers and then vasodilators to help reduce the risk of any complications associated with this type B aortic dissection. So you can remember that as type B uses beta blockers. And type B is below the subclavian artery.