How to resuscitate a patient with a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm?

  Recently, the Department of Vascular Surgery of Beijing Tongren Hospital successfully rescued a Chinese American with a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm with the cooperation of the Department of Anesthesiology, ICU, Imaging and Blood Bank. The patient was discharged from the hospital on Dec. 16.  On November 26, 2010, a patient with abdominal aortic aneurysm was admitted to the emergency department of Beijing Tongren Hospital. The patient, a 63-year-old male, was admitted to the hospital with abdominal pain for two days. On examination, a large pulsating abdominal mass was found, and ultrasound suggested an abdominal aortic aneurysm. After consultation, Dr. Yu Zhengya, chief of vascular surgery, immediately contacted Dr. Xian Junfang, chief of radiology, and technician Zhao Bo, and performed an enhanced CT examination on the patient. the CT examination revealed the severity of the disease: a huge abdominal aortic aneurysm of about 15 cm, a huge left retroperitoneal soft tissue shadow of about 20 cm x 9 cm, and a ruptured abdominal aorta. At this time, the patient was decided to be immediately admitted to the vascular surgery department and transferred to the ICU ward the next day because the city was unable to perform surgery immediately due to the tight blood supply at that time.  On the following day, after Director Yu checked the room, he decided to improve the preoperative preparation as soon as possible and operate immediately when conditions were available. On Sunday, November 28, all preparations were completed, and the blood and plasma needed for the operation were already in place. Dr. Yu Zhengya and Dr. Tan Zhengli, who participated in the operation, arrived at the hospital early in the morning to prepare for the operation. Dr. Li Xiaohui, the deputy chief physician of the Department of Anesthesiology, gave up the opportunity to celebrate her birthday with her family and also rushed to the hospital to participate in the rescue work. At this time, the patient’s hematocrit had dropped another 3 grams and the situation was critical, so the patient was quickly sent to the operating room.  During the operation, the abdominal aortic aneurysm was seen to be about 15cm x 9cm x 9cm, and a huge hematoma of 25cm x 9cm x 9cm was seen in the retroperitoneum, and the posterior lateral wall of the aneurysm near the renal artery was ruptured. The left renal vein was located at the neck of the aneurysm affecting the abdominal aortic block due to the large aneurysm. After the left adrenal vein and left testicular vein were found to be intact, Director Yu Zhengya decided to sever the left renal vein, block the infrarenal aorta and then dissect the abdominal aortic aneurysm and perform abdominal aortic aneurysm resection and artificial vessel replacement. The surgery was carried out in an orderly manner. After 5 hours, the operation ended smoothly and the patient was admitted to ICU after the operation. after 2 weeks of careful treatment, the patient recovered smoothly and the wound healed well and was discharged from the hospital on December 16.  It is understood that ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (RAA) is one of the serious life-threatening emergencies in vascular surgery. At present, the mortality rate of elective surgical treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysm has been controlled within 4%, but the mortality rate of ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (RAA) has been in the range of 40% to 90%. Early diagnosis, urgent surgical treatment to control RAA bleeding as soon as possible, and postoperative strengthening of perioperative management are the keys to reduce the mortality of ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm.  The successful treatment of this patient demonstrates the united cooperation of multiple departments and the high level of emergency and critical care in vascular surgery in Beijing Tongren Hospital.