It's Aortic Disease Awareness Month - Aorta 101
- carinandersen
- Sep 2
- 2 min read
🌟 It’s Aortic Disease Awareness Month! 🌟
Today, let’s kick things off with a quick review of the incredible Aorta — the highway of life in our cardiovascular system. 🚦❤️
👉 The Aorta is the largest artery in the body. Its job? Carry oxygen-rich blood from your lungs to every organ — including your brain, kidneys, and more!
✨ Fun Facts about the Aorta:
🔹 It’s flexible & strong, expanding and contracting as blood flows.
🔹 It has 3 main sections:
Ascending Aorta (starts at the aortic valve)
Aortic Arch (makes that cane-like curve)
Descending Aorta (travels through your chest & abdomen)
Page 13, #AorticDissection Patient Guide
Overview
✨ But wait, there’s more! The Aorta also has 3 layers:
Tunica Intima → the inner lining 🩸
Tunica Media → the middle muscle layer 💪
Tunica Adventitia → the outer anchor 🛡️
Layers
Page 14, #AorticDissection Patient Guide
One the cool parts of the aorta is that it can be divided into three layers when looking at a cross-section.
Tunica Intima: this is the innermost layer where blood passes through. It contains special "endothelial" cells which help it move nutrients and blood. Think "intima" for "inner-most"
Tunica media: this is the middle smooth muscle layer which has elastin and collagen protein and helps provide strength and flexibility to the aorta. Think "media" for "middle"
Tunica adventitia: this is the outermost layer which helps anchor the aorta to surrounding structure.
💡 Why does this matter? Because diseases like aortic dissection and aneurysms can affect these layers — and understanding them helps us understand treatment.
Aortic Valve
🫀Normally it has 3 leaflets (“tri-leaflet”), but some people are born with 2 (“bicuspid”) or even 1 (“unicuspid”).
Valve problems can cause:
Aortic Stenosis → too tight 🚫
Aortic Regurgitation → too leaky 💧
📖 Want to dive deeper? Download for FREE Aortic Dissection: The Patient Guide HERE and check out pages 13–15 for today’s topic:
🔗 More great reads:
https://www.heart-valve-surgery.com/aortic-stenosis-valve-heart-narrowing.php
This valve is responsible for opening and closing as the heart pumps and helps prevent blood from leaking back into the heart.
You might hear your doctor describe the aorta as "tri-leaflet" which refers to the three flaps that open and close as the heart beats. Do be mindful however! Some people are born with aorta that only consist of two leaflets "bicuspid" or one leaflet "unicuspid" aortic valves, which often require monitoring and correction to help the heart function normally.
Two common diseases that can impact the aortic valve include
Aortic stenosis: where the valve becomes too "tight" making it hard for blood to leave the heart
Aortic regurgitation: where the valve becomes too "leaky" causing some blood to leak backwards with every pump adding strain to the heart.
And that wraps up this today's session!
Have an incredible day with your family and loved ones and remember to always #ThinkAorta!
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