ABDOMINAL AORTIC-ANEURYSM - REPORT OF A MEETING OF PHYSICIANS AND SCIENTISTS, UNIVERSITY-COLLEGE-LONDON MEDICAL-SCHOOL

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a disorder that mainly affects the elderly. The prevalence of aneurysmal disease has rapidly increased in individuals aged over 55. Rupture is a common cause of sudden death, and emergency repair has a high risk (40-50%) of perioperative mortality. By contrast, the risk associated with elective resection is substantially less: 3-5%.1 As our populations become older, the incidence of AAA will also increase: those people over 60 years of age in Europe will probably increase in number by over 60% to 224 million by 2025.2 Thus, AAA will impose increasing burdens on health-service resources. For men aged between 65 and 74 years, the normal range of infrarenal aortic diameter is 2·01±0·51 cm.3 Aneurysm sizes range from the smallest, at 3 cm diameter, to those which may reach up to 15 cm diameter. Although many aneurysms remain symptom-free, some may cause abdominal and/or back pain, thereby alerting attention before rupture. Patients with AAA may also have more generalised dilating disease, with aneurysms in femoral, popliteal, or iliac arteries. We present 2 cases: one emergency and one elective aneurysm repair. © 1993.