[Ruptured aneurysms of the abdominal aorta: from the First Aid to the Operating Room. Changing concepts]

Worldwide literature review from PubMed indicate that progress has been made in first aid assistance, diagnosis and treatment of ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms, which led to a reduced operative mortality. Nevertheless, ruptured aneurysms may present atipically in about half of the cases, thus leading to an initially uncorrect diagnosis up to 25% of cases. Mean survival interval from onset of symptoms and death is 10-14 hours, thus indicating that time exists to consider the new imaging techniques in 80% of patients, particularly the TC multislice. This, when is strategically located close to the emergency or the operative room, can rapidly allow a correct diagnosis and provide an accurate morphological evaluation, thus enabling the surgeon to plan the most adequate treatment with open or endovascular repair.