title: Survivors of ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm: the iceberg's tip.
abstract: In four and a half years 25 patients in one community suffered a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm. Eleven died at home, nine died without operation in hospital, and only five had the aneurysm removed. There were four survivors. A further seven patients might have lived had they had a prompt operation. The average operative mortality for ruptured aneurysms among series reported in British journals is 53%, but the survivors are a small minority of the total number of people in the community whose aneurysms rupture. No basis could be found for the view that replacing an aortic aneurysm with a straight graft (while leaving behind aneurysmal common iliac arteries) lowers the operative mortality. On the contrary, oversimplifying the operation may be hazardous.
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001012:Aorta, Abdominal / Q000601:surgery; D001014:Aortic Aneurysm / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality* / Q000601:surgery; D001019:Aortic Rupture / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008722:Methods; D008875:Middle Aged