Abstract
Abdominal visceral aneurysms and psuedoaneurysms are potentially life threatening. Recently, anincreasing number of patients have been treated using transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE). We reported the detailed presentation of 8 cases treated at our hospital and review the diagnosis and treatment of ruptured abdominal visceral aneurysms. Emergency angiography is essential for the diagnosis of a ruptured aneurysm. In our series, three of the aneurysms occurred in the hepatic artery, 3 in the splenic artery, and 2 in the superior mesenteric artery (SMA) region. TAE was performed in 7 cases, and one case, in which the aneurysm occurred in the SMA region, was treated by open laparotomy. TAE was successful in all 7 cases, and 6 out of 7 cases (86%) were rescued. The single fatality occurred in a patient with Ehlers Danlos syndrome, which is a serious disease with a poor prognosis. No complications of TAE were seen in any of the patients. Our results and several other case reports suggest that TAE is useful for primary hemostasis and can improve the mortality rate of patients with ruptured aneurysms. TAE should be used as the treatment of first choice in cases with ruptured abdominal visceral aneurysms.
