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 extremely rare and constitutes a surgical emergency, with an estimated mortality of 50%.1-5 We report a case of a patient with this very uncommon complication of abdominal aortic aneurysm and review the literature discussing its optimal identification and management.