[Chronic course of rupture of subrenal aortic aneurysms. Apropos of two cases].

We report two new cases of aneurysms of the sub-renal aorta in which rupture was followed by a chronic clinical course. In the first, there was an atheromatous aneurysm which led to chronic lombo-sciatic pain over a period of 15 months before exact diagnosis. The second concerned an aneurysm probably related to Yersinia enterolitica infection which led to abdominal pain over a period of 3 weeks. In both cases, the diagnosis was made on the CT scan and the operation led to the immediate disappearance of the symptomatology. Although a particular entity of sub-renal aorta aneurysms is still under debate, identifying an identifiable subset appears to be justified. Indeed, cases in which a chronic course follows rupture have particular characteristics including the absence of effect on general haemodynamics and an operative risk identical to nonruptured aneurysms. These characteristics differentiate this subset from non-sealed retroperitoneal aneurysms of the aorta.