Abstract

A 63-year-old male presented to the community hospital with a one hour history of sudden onset of central abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea accompanied by shortness of breath. On examination, his abdomen was mildly distended with signs of peritonism. His past medical history included a remote repair of an inguinal hernia and was otherwise unremarkable. While being transferred to a larger referral center for further workup and investigations, he unfortunately went into cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation. He was intubated on arrival at the emergency department as he was hemodynamically unstable and in acute hypovolemic shock. Vascular surgery was consulted for a suspected ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm.