False Aneurysms: Varied Presentations in General Surgery

An aneurysm by definition is a permanent localized arterial dilation with 50 percent or greater increase in size over the normal diameter of the affected artery. Aneurysms have been classified as true or false (pseudo) aneurysms. True aneurysms involve all three layers of the arterial wall (intima, media, & adventitia). A false or pseudo-aneurysm is a collection of blood or hematoma which had leaked from a defect in the wall of an artery to be later variably confined by the surrounding interstitial tissues. The varied presentations of six patients with false aneurysms admitted and treated on General Surgical wards are presented with the pertinent literature on the subject reviewed along with a review of the records of patients that presented at Gondar University Hospital (GUH) with the diagnosis of false aneurysm over a six years period.