abdominal aortic aneurysm

January 3, 2007 5:49 AM

abdominal aortic aneurysm filter: My 53 year old mother-in-law was just rushed to the hospital and was diagnosed with a 7cm abdominal aortic aneurysm. Apparently it was caught just before it was about to rupture. The doctors are currently trying to figure out best procedure to deal with this since some blood has been leaking into areas it wasnt supposed to. Anyways, my question is has anyone ever dealt with this? What should my expectations be? Survivability? After operation? Thanks.
posted by flipmiester99 to Health & Fitness (4 answers total)

Best answer: This is something I have dealt with many times in the operting room, but without knowing more details, all I can give you is general information about the condition. Obviously this sort of thing can vary quite widely in its outcome; everything from relatively non-invasive endovascular repair to sudden death if it ruptures completely. Where an individual patient falls on this scale depends on many things; does she have a lot of other medical problems? Exactly where is the anuerysm located and does it involve the mesenteric or renal arteries? Is she a candidate for endovascular repair, a standard open graft procedure, or something else? If these things are caught early (before they bleed significantly or before they affect the blood supply to vital organs) then chances are good that the repair will go well. On the other hand, this can be a big operation with a lot of potential for blood loss. Other complications can include kidney failure, paralysis (if the blood supply to the spinal cord is compromised) injury to the intestines, and since they share risk factors with AAAs, heart attack and stroke. After surgery these patients will spend some time in the ICU, but the details vary widely, once again depending heavily on how healthy the patient is otherwise and the exact type of repair that needs to be done. Assuming the patient is not a candidate for endovascular repair they will have a major intraabdomial surgery with a several week long convalescence. Despite the potential for serious complications, most of these patients do really well.
posted by TedW at 6:18 AM on January 3, 2007

Response by poster: Thanks TedW...I appreciate your comments. I just learned that they had to put her on a breathing machine last night. Im a bit worried about the outcome. Anyways thanks again for the insight.
posted by flipmiester99 at 7:01 AM on January 3, 2007

My FIL had surgery for his AAA 19 years ago, when he was in his late 60s. His was discovered in the course of an abdominal CAT scan for some other problems (AAAs tend to be asymptomatic until just before they rupture). He was a farmer/line worker type, and he lived for another 9 years before metastasized lung cancer killed him. He had some problems with gastric reflux after the surgery, but that's common with abdominal/thoracic surgery.
posted by jlkr at 7:12 AM on January 3, 2007

If they had to put your mother in law on a ventilator, that is obviously worrisome. I wonder why they haven't operated yet if she is that sick. I do know that sometimes they will intubate a patient with an aneurysm about to rupture so that they can be heavily sedated and their blood pressure agressively controlled. Anyway, I hope things go well for her. The next few days will be stressful for everyone; be aware of how you are dealing with it.
posted by TedW at 7:56 AM on January 3, 2007