Multiple nonatherosclerotic aneurysms unrelated to a clinical syndrome

Two cases of multiple inflammatory aneurysms in young patients without evidence of autoimmune disease or an aneurysmal syndrome are presented. Neither case showed any clinical or histologic characteristics typical of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, Marfan's syndrome, Takayasu's arteritis, or other aneurysmal syndromes. Pathologic findings showed adventitial and medial destruction in both patients; although the first case displayed more adventitial involvement, the second showed greater destruction of the medial elastic laminae. The decision to repair an aneurysm should be tempered by its location, the amount of involvement of the artery with multiple lesions, and the risk to the end-organ if repair is unsuccessful.