What’s the prognosis (outlook) for people with abdominal aortic aneurysms?

What’s the prognosis (outlook) for people with abdominal aortic aneurysms?

The outlook is poor for people with AAAs that rupture. Nearly 90% of people don’t make it to the hospital alive. The large majority of people who visit their providers with a ruptured AAA didn’t know that they had an aneurysm, and may delay medical care due to thinking their symptoms are from something else.

Studies show that about 70% of people who have surgery before their aneurysm ruptures live at least another five years. There doesn’t seem to be any difference in survival rates between people who received open surgery instead of endovascular surgery.

The prognosis is good for people with small AAAs detected on screening, especially if they improve their cardiovascular health risk factors. In particular, continued smoking is associated with aneurysm expansion.