AAA question

[Moe4968]

How serious is a AAA surgery for a 72 male, with MS.  Looks to be a candidate for graph.  They do not say “you are a candidate”, just we think you are, and company that makes graph says the same.  Scheduled to have stress test done.  If graph fails, is immediate abdominal surgery required to repair aneurysm?  Wondering if choosing a hospital with more resources might be better.

[kenkeith]

The comment you address may be there is unknown information that is not available at the time when making the comment and they want to protect their options.

The danger of AAA is the possible dissection and internal bleeding, and the procedure may have different risks. Repair of an abdominal aortic aneurysm may be performed surgically through an open incision or in a minimally-invasive procedure called endovascular aneurysm repair.  A failure with the surgery may require another sugery procedure if the operation fails...

"The graft is sutured to the aorta connecting one end of the aorta at the site of the aneurysm to the other end of the aorta. Open repair remains the standard procedure for an abdominal aortic aneurysm repair.

The other procedure the physician will make a small incision in each groin to visualize the femoral arteries in each leg. With the use of special endovascular instruments, along with x-ray images for guidance, a stent-graft will be inserted through the femoral artery and advanced up into the aorta to the site of the aneurysm".  

Usually, it is recommended to have a surgeon that has successfully done at least 1000 operations.  The larger hospitals such as Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic have done enough operations to establish a record of successes.

Thanks for your questions, and if you have any further questions or comments you are invited to respond.  Take care and I wish you well going forward.  

Ken