Aneurysm Papers of the Month - December 1995

Sorry I'm a little late with December, but I kept waiting
for more interesting papers to appear.  Unless I've
missed something, there hasn't been much to report; but
I'm expecting January 1996 to be much more exciting.  For
now, I've only come up with one paper for December.

1. Hall KA, Peters B, Smyth SH, Wameke JA, Rappaport WD,
Putman CW, Hunter GC (Tucson, Arizona).  Abdominal wall
hernias in patients with abdominal aortic aneurysmal
versus aortoiliac occlusive disease.  AM J SURG 1995;
170: 572-576.

Abstract (adapted from authors):

Introduction - To determine the incidence of ventral
incisional hernias (VIHs) and inguinal hernias (IHs) in
patients with AAA vs AOD...

Methods - Review of medical records of 128 patients with
AAA and 65 with AOD.

Results - 41 abdominal wall hernias (AWHs) were detected
in the AAA patients (33%) vs 13 AWHs in the AOD patients
(20%).  There was a greater incidence of VIH's in AAA vs
AOD (10% vs 3%, p <.05) and recurrent AWH's (28% vs 19%,
p <.01); but not of IHs.

Conclusion: Patients with AAA have a higher incidence of
VIHs and recurrent AWH's - without a corresponding
increase in patient-related risk factors - than patients
with AOD.  

Comment by mdt - Cannon and Read circa 1984 revisited....