Impact of endovascular repair on early outcomes of ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms.

Objective: Our purpose was to examine the impact of the introduction of endovascular treatment on the early outcomes of ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) during 2 consecutive time periods at a single institution.

Methods: The hospital records of a single tertiary care center from 1997 to 2004 were retrospectively reviewed, and 36 consecutive patients who underwent treatment for acute ruptured AAA were identified. They were divided into 19 (53%) patients who were all treated with conventional open surgery from 1997 to 2001 (early) and 17 (47%) patients who were treated either with open (n = 4, 24%) or endovascular (n = 13, 76%) methods from 2002 to 2004 (late). All endovascular repairs were performed with commercially available bifurcated devices. Outcome measures included death, major complications, disposition at discharge (home or extended care facility), procedure time, blood loss, and hospital length of stay.

Results: Age, sex, and AAA size were similar between the 2 groups. Perioperative mortality in the early and late periods were 37% versus 12%, respectively (P =.13); rates of major complications were 84% versus 65%, respectively (P =.26); and discharge to home rather than extended care facility was 32% versus 59%, respectively (P =.18). Median procedure times (275 vs 149 minutes, P <.01), blood loss (3800 vs 138 mL, P <.0001), and length of stay (18 vs 6 days, P <.05) were all higher during the early period than in the late period.

Conclusions: This preliminary study suggests that introduction of endovascular therapies may be potentially beneficial in the overall treatment scheme of patients with ruptured AAAs. However, longer follow-up and larger cohorts are needed to better establish its feasibility and efficacy compared with conventional open surgical repair.