The inflammatory process provoked by ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm

Systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) is the process, which can arise from various causes without infection. The clinical manifestations of SIRS result from the production of the inflammatory mediators as an initial response to harmful stimulus. SIRS can be defined as the detection of one or more of 4 clinical criteria, secondary to pathophysiological changes from the baseline, in the absence of a defined cause for the observed abnormality, such as immunosuppressive induced neutropenia or leucopenia (Table 1). Almost 70% of elective abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair patients developed SIRS prior or concurrent to organ failure while nearly all ruptured AAA (rAAA) developed the syndrome. While SIRS and organ failure usually recover rapidly in elective AAA repair, following rAAA they can persist, giving rise to multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS).