Circulating Markers of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Presence and Progression

Over the last decade, abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA)\udhas increasingly been recognized as an important cause\udof mortality in older persons. In 1999, for example, AAA was\udnoted to be the 15th leading cause of mortality in the United States^1. Exact estimates of AAA-related fatalities are hampered by the low rate of postmortems when sudden death occurs in elderly subjects; however, recent figures suggest that AAA accounts for ~15 000 deaths annually in the United States despite the increasing number of elective AAA repairs^2,3. Approximately 25 000 endovascular and open AAA repairs are performed annually in the United States^3