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A Myth Exposed: Fast Growth in Diameter Does Not Justify Precocious Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair

Section of Vascular Surgery, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, One Medical Center Drive, Lebanon, NH 03756; j.cronenwett{at}hitchcock.org

The authors conducted a study of 277 patients to investigate the claim that fast growth of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) diameter is an indication for repair. The patients were placed in an aneurysm surveillance program in which they had duplex sonography at 6-month intervals. Operations were not performed based on fast AAA growth. Sixty-three patients had aneurysms that grew 0.5 cm or more in 6 months, of them 31 had aneurysms that measured 5.5 cm or greater (anteriorposterior). Twenty had their aneurysm surgically repaired. The remaining 32 patients continued under surveillance and none had a rupture of their aneurysms. The authors concluded that raidial increase in AAA diameter is not an indication for elective AAA repair.

Key Words: abdominal aortic aneurysm • rupture • radial increase

Perspectives in Vascular Surgery and Endovascular Therapy, Vol. 16, No. 1, 79-80 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/153100350401600120


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