Life expectancy is increasing and, as a result, a larger, older group with multiple co-morbidities is rapidly becoming the “new normal,” placing more challenges on our healthcare system. Elderly patients experience physiologic changes due to aging. Twenty percent exhibit signs of frailty and as a group are at much higher risk of underlying, undetected, and even asymptomatic conditions. A significant number of these undiagnosed conditions may be severely disabling or lethal. This was the case with our patient, an elderly man who was admitted to the hospital as a result of a trauma. About a week after a fall, his traumatic injuries had been treated and stabilized enough for him to undergo endovascular repair of an incidental finding of an aortic aneurysm. However, this led to an unexpected case of hemorrhagic shock requiring aggressive resuscitation and intensive care.

A case of undiagnosed GI bleed discovered after the endovascular repair of an infrarenal aortic aneurysm