Page for the General Public

[摘要] The following pages summarize and review this issue’s articles for an audience without a background in medicine or research. Frank A. Lederle: Distinguished Lecture given at the opening of the 5th International Meeting on Aortic Disease, Liège, Belgium (September 15, 2016) In his lecture, Frank Lederle begins by telling the story how he became a researcher in aortic aneurysm disease (diseases of the aorta, the body’s main vessel) even though he is not a surgeon. His interest was sparked by the fact that aortic aneurysm disease was one of the top 15 causes of death in the USA. He started his research with an aneurysm screening project and later lead investigations on surgery on patients with small aneurysms. They showed that the benefit of surgery in patients with aneurysms of the aorta in their abdomen does not outweigh its risks in patients with aneurysms of diameters of below 5.5cm.