An aortic aneurysm is a balloonlike bulging of the aorta, which is the body's largest artery. The big danger is the risk of rupture when it gets too big - which was Mr Duncan's experience.

Aortic aneurysms caused almost 10,000 deaths ... Of those, 59% were in men and 75% affected patients with a history of smoking. "The aneurysm is in and of itself just a blood vessel that gets ...