Effect of Thrombus in AAA on Pressure and Dilation Experienced by the Aneurysm Wall

Abstract

Various factors are considered to play a role in the risk of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) rupture. For instance, a maximum diameter of 7 cm is commonly used as an indication for surgery. There is a need for understanding what makes an aneurysm most likely to rupture. Our focus here is on the role of the intraluminal thrombus and how it affects the pressure and dilation experienced by the aneurysm wall. Since in most of the surgical procedures, the whole aneurysms are almost never removed, the data on the whole aneurysms with thrombus has not been available. The results presented here, therefore, are very important even though they come from a small number of whole aneurysms explored thoroughly. Two types of studies were performed: 1) in vitro and in vivo pressure measurements through the thrombus in three complete AAA, and 2) in vitro dilation measurements during pressurization of two whole aneurysms before and after the thrombus was removed.