Surgical treatment of visceral artery aneurysms

Abstract

Objective To analyze the surgical treatment of visceral artery aneurysm (VAAs).Method Clinical data of 19 patients surgically treated for visceral artery aneurysm in our hospital from Feb 2002 to Jun 2010 were reviewed. There were 7 cases of splenic, 1 of right hepatic, 1 of left gastric,3 of pancreaticoduodenal,2 of gastroduodenal, 1 of superior mesenteric, 1 of middle colic, 1 of left colic and 2 of renal artery aneurysms. Rupture of the aneurysm occurred in 12 patients. Transcatheter arterial embolization was performed in 13 cases, other 6 cases received open surgical treatment. Results Four patients suffered from recurrent bleeding after first embolization, 2 of those received surgery to stop bleeding, another 2 were successfully managed by second embolization. Bleeding were rapidly controlled in 8 ruptured patients associated with shock. Duodenum incomplete obstruction developed in 1 patient after pancreaticoduodenal artery embolization, another 2 patients suffered from partial splenic infarction after splenic artery operation. 18 cases were followed-up from 2 to 103 months without aneurysm recurrence. Conclusions Endovascular embolization and open surgery for VAAs are safe and effective, endovascular intervention and embolization is especially life saving for ruptured pseudo-aneurysm cases. Key words: Aneurysm; Vascular surgical procedures; Embolization, therapeutic