Traumatic fracture of the abdominal aorta. Rupture of a calcified abdominal aorta with minimal trauma.

We report the case of an elderly man whose infrarenal abdominal aorta ruptured when the patient fell getting out of bed. Unique features of this case are the lack of aneurysmal disease, the insignificant nature of the trauma, and the severe, rigid atherosclerotic plaque in the infrarenal aorta. Pathologic examination of the resected aorta demonstrated the point of rupture to be at the junction of atherosclerotic plaque and normal aorta, suggesting that atherosclerosis is a predisposing factor in traumatic rupture of the abdominal aorta.