AAA

A 72-year-old male presents with left-sided flank pain for the last two weeks that has worsened over the past several hours. He also feels lightheaded when standing today. He is tachycardic to 124 beats per minute and hypotensive to 117/84 mm Hg relative to his chart baseline which has an average systolic in the 160s mmHg. You cannot reproduce his pain on your abdominal exam, but you feel a thrill with deep central abdominal palpation. What is the likely diagnosis, and what are your initial steps in evaluation and management?

The sick patient with an abdominal aortic aneurysm is challenging. What should you consider? How do you resuscitate these patients, and what about transfer?

The latest quick-hit ultrasound pearl details the critical diagnosis and interpretation of abdominal aortic aneurysm that emergency providers cannot afford to miss.

This is the first of a two-part series on surgical emergencies. This series discusses “cannot miss” diagnoses that require immediate, or at least emergent, surgical intervention.