EXPANSION RATES OF SMALL ABDOMINAL AORTIC-ANEURYSMS

Background: The present study was carried out in order to examine thos e factors that influence the rate of expansion of small abdominal aort ic aneurysms. Methods: A retrospective study was undertaken of 112 pat ients who attended the St George Vascular Laboratory between 1987 and 1997. These patients had abdominal aortic aneurysms that were consider ed to be too small to warrant surgical repair at the time of presentat ion. Sequential ultrasound examinations were used ts measure maximal a nteroposterior aneurysm diameter. From these data, annual growth rates were calculated. Growth rate per annum was then compared with gender, age, initial aortic aneurysm diameter, presence of hypertensive disea se, cardiac disease, family history of aneurysmal disease, diabetes me llitus, smoking, beta-adrenergic blockade and lipid lowering drugs. Re sults: Univariate analysis showed that three factors were significantl y related to growth rate: the initial size of the aortic aneurysm, the presence of cardiac disease and the presence of beta-adrenergic block ade. Conclusions: The presence of beta-adrenergic blockade appeared to have an independent effect on aneurysm growth rate, and suggests a po ssible role for beta-adrenergic blockade as a therapeutic strategy in controlling expansion rates of small abdominal aortic aneurysms. A con trolled double-blind clinical trial is required to demonstrate this co nclusively.