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(TNND) — South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham's family announced over the weekend that the 71-year-old lawmaker had died following "a brief and sudden illness."

Hours later, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for the District of Columbia released preliminary findings identifying the cause of death as an "aortic dissection due to arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease."

According to the Society for Vascular Surgery, an aortic dissection is a life-threatening condition in which a tear develops in the inner layer of the body's main artery, the aorta. Blood can then force its way between the layers of the artery wall, causing them to separate.

The condition can quickly become fatal if the blood breaks through the outer wall of the aorta, leading to severe internal bleeding.

Symptoms can include sudden, severe chest or upper back pain that may resemble a heart attack, stroke-like symptoms, severe abdominal pain, shortness of breath and difficulty walking.

There are two main types of aortic dissection. Type A, the more common and dangerous form, involves a tear in the ascending aorta near the heart. Type B affects the descending portion of the aorta farther from the heart.

Treatment typically requires emergency surgery, particularly for Type A dissections, although the approach depends on the location of the tear and any resulting complications.

While relatively rare, aortic dissections occur most often in men in their 60s and 70s. According to health experts, major risk factors include high blood pressure, smoking, cocaine use and certain inherited connective tissue disorders.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that nearly 10,000 people died in 2019 from aortic aneurysms — a balloon-like bulge in the aorta — or aortic dissections.