Surgical Treatment of Aortic Aneurysm in the Aged

Before resection and graft replacement was introduced nearly two decades ago,1rupture and hemorrhage was a major cause of death in patients with abdominal aortic aneurysms.2,3 In large reported series, the operative mortality rate for elective aneurysmectomy has been reduced 4% to 7%.4-6Survival time has been significantly lengthened in the operated patients when compared with those followed without operation.7Resection and replacement is now generally accepted as the treatment of choice in patients whose life expectancy is not limited by other diseases.8,9 The purpose of this report is to review the results of aneurysmectomy in the aged patient, and to evaluate the preoperative, operative, and postoperative factors that influence survival. Materials and Methods One hundred patients ranging in age from 60 to 85 years were studied (Table 1). This group of patients was selected out of the total aneurysmectomy series on the basis of