Abdominal aortic aneurysmectomy, 1968-1969. A review of recent experience of the Southern California Permanente Medical Group.

Seventy-three aneurysmectomies were done in the two-year period 1968-1969 for a Health Plan population of 771,000. The mortality in the elective cases was nine percent and in the emergency cases 44 percent. An analysis of the complications and causes of death reveals them to be essentially the same as reported by others. Bleeding and myocardial infarction are the two most common causes of death in emergency operations. Pneumonia and urinary tract infections are the most common complications in successful cases. Comparison of this report of recent experience with reports of cumulative series is difficult. The morbidity and mortality reported here is felt to be representative of current practice.