Reflections on the 50th anniversary of the first abdominal aortic aneurysm resection.

Fifty years ago, on March 29, 1951, Charles Dubost in France performed the first successful resection of an abdominal aortic aneurysm and replaced it with a cadaver homograft, thereby initiating the modern era of surgical correction of a common entity. This article offers a summary of the events leading to that milestone in vascular surgery.