PITTSBURGH -- Hundreds of thousands of people are completely unaware have a condition that one day could take their life.
Aneurysms, bulges in blood vessels, are often deadly when they rupture and most of the time there are no warning signs.
There are two types of aneurysms -- one that develops in the brain and another that develops in the abdomen. Both can be deadly because the bulge can rupture, causing bleeding into the body.
But doctors are hoping to find new ways to detect and fix the problem, before it claims a life.
Jim Howvalt came to Pittsburgh for the surgery the hopes will save his life. And there is no time to waste because the aneurysm in his abdomen is like a ticking time bomb.
"Mine's like the size of a tennis ball and if it busts, you're gone," Howvalt said."You're gone. There's no tomorrow."
Doctors found the abdominal aortic aneurysm during another procedure, not because Howvalt had any symptoms.
"I had no idea I had it. Had no idea," Howvalt said.
"Rupture of an aortic aneurysm is a serious matter. In fact most people don't survive them," said Dr. Satish Muluk of Allegheny General Hospital.
A relatively new procedure will not only fix the problem, it will also get Howvalt out of the hospital in a day or two.
The old method required full open surgery. Now, doctors will fish a stent graft up the artery through the groin, all the way up to the aneurysm. Doctors are able to watch the whole maneuver on monitors. When sealed, blood will flow through the graft so the aneurysm won't burst.
"Now that we have deployed our graft and we have confirmed with our angiogram that the graft is in good position and the aneurysm is excluded. You might have noticed with our last picture that the blood flow was going entirely through the graft and the aneurysm wasn't filling at all anymore," Muluk said.
Aneurysms are the third leading cause of death among men. Now, the easiest way to catch it is through a physical exam with your doctor but there is one thing that you can do yourself at home to check.
"Sometimes it can also be picked up by the patients themselves if they happen to feel a pulsating bulge in their belly," Muluk said.
Researchers still aren't sure what causes aneurysms, though it might have something to do with a weakness in the blood vessel wall.
Doctors said smoking and high blood pressure makes the condition worse.
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