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• The aorta is the largest blood vessel that extends from the top of the heart and it provides oxygenated blood to virtually every cell in the body. It is a multi-layered, high-pressure hose that arches upward and around sending tributaries to neck and brain, arms and then down through the chest past the diaphragm. Once it reaches the abdomen, the aorta sends branches to bowels, kidneys, and finally splits to the two femoral arteries providing blood for the legs.
• We measure the continuous pressure exerted within the aorta in millimeters of mercury, and its pressures on average range from 120 down to 80, but in a hypertensive person this can be much higher. After many years of such pressure, and especially after years of smoking, the walls of this mighty vessel can weaken and blood can split into one of the layers of the vessel, dissect down, and finally rupture or blow out the vessel, causing immediate death.
• Some 14,000 Americans die from this condition each year and that would be less

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