Hemodynamics of abdominal aortic aneurysm and its clinical relevance in patients with infrarenal stent-graft implantation

In 2008 the overall rate of death attributable to cardiovascular disease, or CVD, is 244.8 per 100,000. On the basis of these mortality rate data, one American dies due to CVD on an average of every 39 seconds. Of these deaths, abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) accounts for 11,079 [1]. Although an estimate of the total economic burden of AAA is not available, the average cost per discharge for a ruptured AAA exceeded $93,000 in 2003 [2]. Generally, an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is an irreversible focal dilation of an artery to 1.5 times its normal diameter [3]. AAAs are characterized by the destruction of elastin and collagen in the media and adventitia, smooth muscle cell loss with thinning of the medial wall, infiltration of lymphocytes and macrophages, and neovascularization [4, 5].