An 82-year-old lady presented to the Emergency Department with a complaint of a pulsatile abdominal mass. She mentioned that the pulsatile mass had been there for several years. She never went to a clinician to be examined prior to this visit. On ultrasound exam a fusiform abdominal aortic aneurysm was seen in the mid abdominal aorta.
What is the structure marked with the yellow arrow?
A. False lumen
B. Dacron graft
C. Thrombus
Image courtesy of UltrasoundCases.info owned by SonoSkills.
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Answer:
75% of large abdominal aortic aneurysm have some form of thrombus within them. Thrombus formation has also been associated with increase in size of the aneurysm. When measuring the diameter of the aneurysm, include the thrombus within the measurement if present within the most dilated region of the aneurysm.
References
https://doi.org/10.1148/radiol.2020191723
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-31637-6
