ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a case study of a 68-year-old man who has suffered from a severe left-sided loin to groin pain. He has never experienced such pain and denies any urinary or bowel symptoms. His comorbidities include hypertension, diabetes mellitus and chronic obstructive airway disease. He is a lifelong smoker of 20 cigarettes per day and drinks 30-40 units of alcohol per week. This patient has an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), which is defined as a dilatation of an artery to more than 50" of its normal diameter. This classically presents with a triad of abdominal pain, pulsatile abdominal mass and hypotension. However, it should be ruled out in all over-65-year-old patients with abdominal pain. Point-of-care ultrasound is now used routinely in most Emergency Departments to confirm the presence or absence of an aortic aneurysm. Incidental or asymptomatic AAAs discovered in the Emergency Department also warrant referral to a vascular surgeon.
