ABDOMINAL AORTIC ANEURYSM RUPTURE MASQUERADING AS INTESTINAL OBSTRUCTION – A RARE PRESENTATION

Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Rupture

Abstract

We describe a case of a 70 year old man who presented with large bowel obstruction but the physical examination deterred initial diagnosis and raised suspicion of ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). Subsequent investigations confirmed ruptured AAA. An immediate open surgical repair was performed and patient made a successful recovery. Ruptured AAA masquerade numerous diagnoses including large bowel obstruction; clinicians should anticipate and treat this challenging entity timely.
Background: Among vascular diseases, AAA approximately affects 2% of the western population1. AAA is characterized by a dilatation of the localized segment of aorta more than 1.5 times than its normal calibre. Rupture of AAA is the most life threatening surgical emergency with an overall mortality ranging from 32% to 90%2. At present, there is significant scarcity of literature regarding aortic disease in Pakistan. We report a first ever successful surgical repair of a ruptured AAA with a confounding clinical presentation of large bowel obstruction in Pakistan.