ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: This study evaluated the prevalence of cystic disease in the intra-abdominal organs in a normal population and a group of patients with vascular disease. METHODS: We reviewed the medical records and computed tomography scans of the vascular disease group and the control group. Vascular disease group (n=586) were patients who suffered with abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), aorto-iliac occlusive disease (AOD) and peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD) and who were treated in our institute. The control group (n=424) were patients who visited the health promotion center in our institute during the same period. RESULTS: The prevalence of abdominal cysts in the control group and the vascular disease group was 41.7% and 65.2%, respectively. The vascular disease group showed a higher prevalence of abdominal cystic lesion for all the specific vascular diseases. However, when the two groups were stratified according to age, the vascular disease group displayed no significant difference in the prevalence of abdominal cyst compared to that of the control group. CONCLUSION: Abdominal cystic lesions are common in patients with vascular disease, including AAA, AOD, and PAOD. But this high prevalence of abdominal cystic lesions seems to be associated with the advanced age of vascular disease patients. Further molecular-based research is needed to clarify the pathogenetic relationship between vascular disease and abdominal cystic lesions.