Patients with aortic aneurysm deserve higher priority

Patients with an abdominal aortic aneurysm are waiting too long for surgery, says a report from the UK national confidential inquiry into patient outcome and death.

Just over a fifth of patients (21%) with aortic aneurysm who were reviewed for the inquiry waited more than 12 weeks for an elective repair operation, even though their condition was “life threatening,”said the inquiry's chairman, Peter Simpson. He added, “Once a decision has been made to operate, this should be carried out as expeditiously as possible.”

The inquiry found that 18 patients who had emergency surgery for aortic aneurysm (out of 264) in …