Die farbkodierte Duplexsonographie in der postoperativen Beurteilung von Aortenaneurysmen

One hundred patients with infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysms were treated by surgery. Fifteen deaths occurred postoperatively. Eleven patients died during the follow-up of a medium period of 13 months. Three patients with a ruptured aneurysm died intraoperatively before the graft was implanted. Three patients were lost to follow-up. Sixty-four patients were examined with colour-coded Duplex sonography after surgical repair. Colour-coded Duplex sonography was able to image the aortic prostheses with the adjacent major vessels. Fifty-eight patients showed a normal prosthesis, 3 dilatation proximal of the prosthesis, 1 dilatation distal of the prosthesis, 1 mild stenosis, 1 haematoma. Colour-coded Duplex sonography imaged the intraluminal space of the prosthesis more easily than ultrasound. Colour-coded Duplex sonography was able to differentiate between intraluminal and extraluminal lesions.