“There is no disease more conducive to clinical humility than aneurysm of the aorta.” These words of Sir William Osler still resonate today, when many patients with ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms die before reaching the hospital and the mortality rate among those who reach the hospital can exceed 50 percent. The prevention of rupture through early detection and elective repair remains the ...

TO THE EDITOR: The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommended screening for abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) with ultrasonography only in male smokers 65 to 75 years of age. Other subsets were excluded in part because of “good evidence that screening and early treatment result in important harms, including an increased number of surgeries with associated morbidity and mortality, ...

An abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a complex vascular pathology which leads to a localized and asymmetric dilation of the abdominal aorta. Ruptures of untreated AAAs are common and catastrophic events which may account for high mortality rates, particularly in elder males. It is well known that biomechanical factors play fundamental roles in AAA lesion growth, remodeling and rupture. Compare...

Endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair (EVAR) is a safe and efficacious treatment for both unruptured and ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms. While perioperative mortality is lower with EVAR, long-term outcomes are similar between EVAR and open repair, including quality of life and cost-effectiveness. We review the long-term outcomes from the EUROSTAR registry, and DREAM, EVAR 1, and OV...

Abdominal aortic aneurysms cause about 6000 deaths per year in England and Wales, predominantly from rupture. Significant progress has been made in recent years in developing minimally invasive, endovascular methods of treatment. This review evaluates the current management options for abdominal aortic aneurysm.

PURPOSE We evaluated the operative results of our treatment for multiple aortic aneurysms by means of a hybrid procedure consisting of a combination of conventional surgical maneuvers and simultaneous or sequential endovascular aortic repair (EVAR). MATERIALS AND METHODS From August 1998 to April 2007, a total of 15 patients, 11 men and 4 women, ranging in age from 62 to 78 years, were treate...

Background—Abdominal aortic aneurysm is an asymptomatic condition with a high mortality rate related to rupture. Methods and Results—In a cohort of 2035 men and 2310 women in Tromsø, Norway, who were 25 to 82 years old in 1994, the authors identified risk factors for incident abdominal aortic aneurysm over the next 7 years. The impact of smoking was studied in particular. Ultrasound examination...

Two-hundred two patients who consecutively underwent histological examination of the aneurysm wall with the full thickness at the time of repair procedure of infrarenal true abdominal aortic aneurysm were retrieved from the files of the Department of Pathology at the National Cardiovascular Center in the 13-year period from September 1977 to August 1990. Inflammatory aneurysms were present in 1...