{"id":12762,"date":"2021-04-21T09:23:37","date_gmt":"2021-04-21T14:23:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.osfhealthcare.org\/blog\/?p=12762"},"modified":"2026-03-06T16:14:53","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T22:14:53","slug":"close-to-home-care-saves-woman-from-hidden-danger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/close-to-home-care-saves-woman-from-hidden-danger\/","title":{"rendered":"Close-to-home care saves woman from hidden danger"},"content":{"rendered":"

Penny Clore, 72, from Georgetown, Illinois, had been dealing with stomach pain all day. Thinking it might be an issue with her digestive system, she tried laxatives and an enema, but the pain kept getting worse.<\/p>\n

Penny went to bed on the evening of August 14, 2020, hoping the issue might resolve itself. Before too long, though, she couldn\u2019t stand it any longer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt kept getting worse and worse, so I thought maybe something is wrong with me,\u201d Penny said. \u201cI sat on the bed and said, \u2018No, I cannot stand it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Penny woke up her daughter who lives next door. The two headed straight to OSF HealthCare Sacred Heart Medical Center<\/a> in nearby Danville.<\/p>\n

In response to her stomach pain, the emergency department<\/a> team at OSF Sacred Heart had a computed tomography (CT) scan of Penny\u2019s abdomen performed. It showed that her aorta, a major artery, had dilated and grown to 8 cm where it passed through her abdomen, when it should typically be 1.5 \u2013 2 cm.<\/p>\n

Penny had an abdominal aortic aneurysm<\/a> that was showing signs of inflammation on the scan and could potentially rupture or separate at any time. She needed expert vascular surgery care fast before she suffered possible life-threatening bleeding. Time was vital, and the longer she had to travel for surgery, the greater the risk of complications.<\/p>\n

Expert care close to home<\/h2>\n

Fortunately for Penny, an expert vascular surgeon, Ravishankar Hasanadka, MD with OSF HealthCare Cardiovascular Institute<\/a>, performs both surgical and endovascular procedures at nearby OSF HealthCare Heart of Mary Medical Center<\/a> in Urbana.<\/p>\n

Penny was quickly taken into a specialized hybrid operating room at OSF Heart of Mary that accommodates both open surgery and minimally invasive endovascular surgery.<\/p>\n

Through just a couple small incisions near the groin, Dr. Hasanadka was able to place a stent graft inside the aorta to reline the aneurysm with a stronger wall. This treats the issue from the inside and the procedure has less risk than open surgery where a large abdominal incision would be made to replace the aneurysm with a surgical graft.<\/p>\n

The improvement quickly made a difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer abdominal pain went away immediately when her aneurysm wall was no longer pressurized,\u201d Dr. Hasanadka said. \u201cShe was discharged after two nights in the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n

Penny \u201cwas feeling just fine\u201d as she left the hospital so soon after her aneurysm scare, and she was soon able to return to her normal daily exercise<\/a>, hitting the treadmill for 30 minutes a day.<\/p>\n

She was really impressed by the care she received and thankful for the extra effort Dr. Hasanadka and the team at OSF Heart of Mary put in to make her feel comfortable and valued.<\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Hasanadka was a wonderful man, he really was,\u201d Penny said. \u201cHe was kind. Plus, he took a photo and showed me everything he had done, so I understood. He put a picture on the board in my room to show me what he did and where.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy daughter was waiting outside because of the pandemic restrictions, and the doctor called her cellphone to update her on my care, that\u2019s how wonderful he is. He called her in the parking lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rest of the team made an impression on Penny, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had never seen that hospital before and they were nice people,\u201d Penny said. \u201cThey take the time to actually speak to you. Everybody was just calm. They were so nice, every one of them, the people who delivered food, the nurses, the aides. I\u2019ve never seen that before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hidden danger<\/h2>\n

According to Dr. Hasanadka, abdominal aortic aneurysms often don\u2019t have any symptoms, and they are found incidentally when a CT scan or an ultrasound is performed for another reason. Or, they\u2019re not found until after they have ruptured.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, these aneurysms can be found with a screening ultrasound<\/a>, which everyone who meets the criteria to be at-risk of an abdominal aortic aneurysm should get done. The Society of Vascular Surgery recommends a screening ultrasound for those over 65 who have smoked and those between 65-75 years with a first degree relative<\/a> who has or had an abdominal aortic aneurysm.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will pay for a screening ultrasound in men ages 65-75 who have smoked more than 100 cigarettes in their life,\u201d Dr. Hasanadka said. \u201cThat shows how linked smoking is to developing an abdominal aortic aneurysm.\u201d<\/p>\n

Getting screened is important, because the risk for complications increases dramatically when the aneurysm needs to be repaired after rupturing instead of being repaired before any trouble starts. Those complications include heart attack, kidney failure and even death.<\/p>\n

If you fall into one of the categories above, you should contact your primary care physician to see if you qualify and arrange for a screening ultrasound. For compassionate vascular surgery care, call (217) 337-2924<\/a> to schedule an appointment with Dr. Ravishankar Hasanadka.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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