Heart Disease Health Center

continued...

Surgeons and institutions around the country have differing experiences with aortic aneurysms and may follow different protocols in the treatment of the disease. The most important thing to remember is that every case is unique and complicated. You should work with your doctor to decide which treatment is best for you.

If surgery is chosen, your doctor will evaluate your overall health, including assessments of your heart, lungs, and circulatory system, the kidneys, and the gastrointestinal system. The decision whether to have surgery is based on the outcome of these evaluations. The risk of death or injury during the operation increases if other disease is present.

• If the evaluation of your heart shows that you have significant heart disease, you should have coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) or coronary angioplasty prior to repairing an aortic aneurysm. This is because coronary artery disease is the most important thing that contributes to complications, such as heart attack, in the period before and after the operation. Other complications, such as stroke and infection of the graft, can also occur.
• Kidney disease, chronic lung disease, and cirrhosis of the liver may raise the risk of death and complications during the operation.
• Smoking and high blood pressure put a person at a higher risk for complications from surgery. They are also risk factors for the rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm.

It is not an option to wait until an aneurysm has ruptured before surgery is done. Most people who have a ruptured aortic aneurysm die. Surgery for a ruptured aneurysm is dangerous because of the large amount of blood loss.