Acute thrombosis of an aortic aneurysm

The natural history of abdominal aortic aneurysms is to enlarge gradually. Associated complications are rupture, peripheral embolization and infection .(1-5) Complete occlusion of an abdominal aortic aneurysm by thrombus is ex tremely rare and constitutes a surgical emergency, with an estimated mortal ity of 50%.(1-5) We report a case of a patient with this very uncommon com plication of abdominal aortic aneurysm and review the literature discussing its optimal identification and management.