Leave small AAAs (abdominal aortic aneurysms) alone, say UK researchers:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
Small abdominal aortic aneurysms should not be treated with surgery as the chance that they will rupture if left alone is small compared with the risk of surgery. This is the conclusion of an editorial in the October edition of The European Heart Journal by J T Powell and participants in the UK Small Aneurysm Trial, which studied patients with aneurysms of 4.0-5.5cm and was reported last year in The Lancet. "The hypothesis that early elective surgical repair of small aneurysms improves long-term survival was not proven," the editorial said.