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This account of a memorable patient was well-written, but I fear Dr
Fergusson has missed the main lesson. Severe backache is a harbinger of
imminent rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm. A CT-scan can only show
that the aneurysm has already ruptured and cannot show that it is about to
do so. The correct management of his case was to schedule surgery or EVAR
as an emergency. It may indeed be by the grace of God that his case
survived, but the delay made the Almighty's task much more difficult.
Wrong lesson?
This account of a memorable patient was well-written, but I fear Dr
Fergusson has missed the main lesson. Severe backache is a harbinger of
imminent rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm. A CT-scan can only show
that the aneurysm has already ruptured and cannot show that it is about to
do so. The correct management of his case was to schedule surgery or EVAR
as an emergency. It may indeed be by the grace of God that his case
survived, but the delay made the Almighty's task much more difficult.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests