Rupture or breaking open of an artery.
From arterio- (artery) + -rrrhexis (rupture, from Greek rhexis breaking). Describes catastrophic arterial failure. Medical emergency terminology.
Arteriorrhexis is often what happens in a stroke—when an artery in your brain ruptures instead of being blocked, blood floods the surrounding tissue and damages brain cells, which can be even more destructive than a clot.
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