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Outlook

With prompt diagnosis and proper surgical treatment, most people recover fully.

Treatment usually requires minimal alteration of lifestyle, although recommendations to avoid dietary fat and smoking and to control blood pressure may allow you to prevent further damage to your blood vessels.

Because these conditions most often occur in elderly people with other medical conditions, recovery can be prolonged and difficult.

Complications of untreated aortic aneurysm include the following:

• Blood clot: Where the aorta widens into a bulge, blood clots (thrombi) are more likely to form. If a piece of a blood clot breaks off (embolizes), it travels through the circulatory system until it lodges somewhere. The clot can cut off blood flow to any area of the body. Symptoms depend on which part of the body is deprived of blood.
  
  
• Internal bleeding: In ruptured aneurysm or dissection, internal bleeding will occur. If you have symptoms associated with internal bleeding, you are in danger and must seek emergency medical care right away.
  
  
• Circulatory shock: If you bleed enough, your blood pressure will drop dangerously low. Your organs will not receive enough blood to function normally. This is called circulatory collapse or often just "shock." It is a life-threatening condition.