Lipid profiles help to explain protection from systemic atherosclerosis in patients with ascending aortic aneurysm

We recognize that aneurysm disease is often associated with atherosclerosis. The 2010 American Heart Association/American Association for Thoracic Surgery/Society of Thoracic Surgeons Guidelines document on thoracic aortic disease starts the histopathology section with a detailed discussion of atherosclerosis, and the medical treatment section includes statins among the therapeutic measures.1 The conventional wisdom, then, is that aneurysm disease involves an atherosclerotic process.