[Infrarenal abdominal aneurysms. Course and their effect on perioperative mortality. A 23-year study].

The perioperative mortality rate in elective aneurysmectomy progressively declined to 2%; despite the fact that the percentage of patients with risk factors has increased. Important is that this perioperative mortality is not related to the age of the patients. In acute situations the perioperative mortality has increased to 30 à 50%. This can be explained by the increasing number of ruptured aneurysms and the influence of increasing age at the time of surgery. These results support the concept of elective resection of abdominal aortic aneurysms.