Method to Evaluate the Risk of Aneurysm Rupture

Scientists have developed a computer model to predict the rupture potential of an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), which will help surgeons decide when to operate. The method was presented at the 2003 Congress on Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms in Stockholm (Sweden).

Most AAAs are easy to diagnose with an ultrasound test and can usually be treated. The big question for surgeons is when that treatment should take place. Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh's McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine (PA, USA; www.mirm.pitt.edu) measured samples of vascular tissue removed during AAA surgical repair and combined it with patient information on smoking, family history, gender, and AAA size. Based on these, they then developed a statistical model to predict the local strength of an aneurysm wall. When this is combined with biomechanical analysis of stresses, a rupture potential index can be calculated with a range from zero to one.

"Until now, all abdominal aortic aneurysms have been treated more or less the same way, in that they are surgically repaired when the maximum diameter reaches a certain size, usually five centimeters,” explained David Vorp, Ph.D., director of the Vascular Biomechanics and Vascular Tissue Engineering Research Laboratories at the McGowan Institute. "We are looking at AAA in a more biomechanical way. Material failure, or a rupture, will occur when the stress at any point exceeds the strength of the material.”





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U. Pittsburgh's McGowan Inst.