[Aneurysms of the abdominal aorta].

Over the last 20 years, 170 patients have been operated on for infrarenal aortic aneurysm. Ninety-six were operated on electively. Seventy-four underwent emergency surgery, of whom 62 had a ruptured aneurysm. In elective surgery mortality was low, falling in recent years from 10.5 to 2.7%, due to systematic postoperative resuscitation in intensive care and growing experience in the field of aneurysm surgery. Emergency surgery for ruptured aneurysms is associated with a mortality of up to 56%, which is even higher for patients operated on at the hypovolemic shock stage. Presently, the most important aspect of abdominal aortic surgery is lowering of the number of ruptured aneurysms, since at this stage aneurysm resection is inevitably associated with high mortality. Improvement of prognosis requires early diagnosis, effective resuscitation in the intensive care unit, knowledge and prevention of postoperative complications, and teamwork between surgeons, physicians, anesthesiologists, hematologists and nephrologists.