Aortic Aneurysm: Etiopathogenesis and Clinicopathologic Correlations.

Aortic aneurysm (AA) is one of the life-threatening aortic diseases, leading to aortic rupture of any cause including atherosclerotic and non-atherosclerotic diseases. AA is diagnosed in a variable proportion of patients with dilated aorta by imaging modality. The etiopathogenesis of AA remains unclear in many aortic diseases. Furthermore, although it may be difficult to explain all phenotypes of patients even if genetic mutation could be identified in some proteins such as smooth muscle cell α-actin (ACTA2), myosin heavy chain 11 (MYH11) or SMAD3, individualized consideration of these factors in each patient is essential on the basis of clinicopathological characteristics.