Abstract
This is a case report of a sixty-five-year-old white male who was hospitalized for elective surgery of a recurring left inguinal hernia. On the sixth postopera tive day he was struck by sudden abdominal pain, followed by rapidly progress ing hypovolemic shock, secondary to abdominal apoplexy from a ruptured dis secting aneurysm of the common hepatic artery. His resultant death, approxi mately twenty-four hours following emergency laparotomy, was secondary to persistent hypotension, followed by multiple organ system failure.
It represents the eighth case reported of this entity in the English literature. The previous 7 cases are reviewed. The association with cystic medial degenera tion, essential hypertension, and postoperative status is discussed. Also summa rized are the symptomatology, diagnosis, and management of this very rare and almost invariably lethal condition.
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