Conservatism in the management of aortic aneurysms

The authors discuss in general, conservative surgical therapy in the management of thoracic aneurysms and the principle that the purpose of such surgery is to prevent rupture and not "extirpation of a tumor". As an illustrative example, they present a case in which a large thoracoabdominal aneurysm was managed by bypass exclusion and individual grafting of the visceral arteries and-in the same patient-two aneurysms of the ascending aorta and aortic regurgitation caused by dissection were handled by valve suspension, limited resection, and external grafting. They promote the usage of conservative procedures versus radical resection in selected cases of aortic aneurysms as an effective alternate.