Rare visceral artery aneurysm

Published: 02/28/2012

Authors: Parthasarathy M, Eves T and Kappadath S

An 85-year-old lady presented with acute, severe epigastric pain. She was hypotensive on admission and had a tender epigastrium with suspicion of an underlying mass. An urgent CT scan showed an aneurysm of a visceral artery and haemoperitoneum. Laparotomy revealed a ruptured 9 cm aneurysm of the right gastroepiploic artery. Proximal and distal ligations were done and the aneurysm excluded.

Visceral artery aneurysms are uncommon (splenic and hepatic artery aneurysms being the commonest) and only a very few ruptured gastroepiploic artery aneurysms have been reported.