CASE HISTORY

The patient was suffering from an abdominal carcinoma and the aneurysm was discovered at laparotomy.  There were never any symptoms relating to it during life. 

PATHOLOGY

The specimen consists of the lower part of the abdominal aorta together with the proximal part of the right common iliac artery.  Above the level of the aneurism, the aorta shows a little intimal thickening and one or two foci of atheroma but nothing diagnostic of syphilitic aortitis.  In the aneurism itself the changes are much more definite. The intima is thickened and opaque and shows a white silvery appearance.  There are numerous scars, mostly longitudinal, but also occasionally radiating. The media is difficult to make out on the cut surface of the aneurismal wall, but it is probably represented by the thin, interrupted opaque yellow line. The adventitia appears thickened. The saccular part of the aneurism is filled with a fairly old laminated clot.