Abdominal aortic aneurysm abdominal x ray

Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Microchapters
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Hardik Patel, M.D.

Overview

Plain abdominal radiographs are obtained in patients with abdominal complaints before the diagnosis of AAA has been made. It is very difficult to evaluate patients with AAA using plain radiographs, because aortic wall calcification is seen in less than half of the AAA cases. However, plain radiographs may be helpful when an aneurysmal aorta appears normal on angiogram, due tothrombus within the sac.

Abdominal X Ray

Aortic wall calcification has been shown in the radiograph below:

Faint outline of the calcified wall of an AAA

Copyleft image obtained courtesy of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:RupturedAAAXray.png; James Heilman, MD.