The First Resection of An Aortic Aneurysm

Abstract

In 1951 the report from Paris that an abdominal aortic aneurysm had been successfully resected greatly influenced surgeons throughout the world who, until then, had regarded such an operation as being outside the bounds of surgery. Indeed, as a young surgeon I could hardly believe such a procedure would be possible, having seen an unsuccessful attempt at producing thrombosis of the aneurysm by introducing coils of wire into the sac, (Colt's operation) and, in other cases, merely standing by helplessly as the patient exsanguinated from rupture of the aneurysm.