A population-based analysis of endovascular aortic stent graft therapy in patients with liver cirrhosis.

Background: Endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) and thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) are effective and minimally invasive treatments for high-risk surgical candidates. However, information about the management of EVAR and TEVAR in liver cirrhosis (LC) is lacking. The aim of our study was to evaluate outcomes after EVAR and TEVAR in patients with LC.

Methods: Using Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database, we retrospectively evaluated patients who underwent EVAR and TEVAR therapy between January 1, 2006, and December 31, 2013.

Results: A total of 146 patients with LC and 730 matched patients without LC were eligible for analysis after propensity score matching. In-hospital mortality and perioperative complications were not statistically significantly different between the two cohorts, although the LC group had an increased volume of blood transfusion and a trend toward a lower survival rate (P of stratified Cox = .092). However, patients with LC had a higher adjusted hazard ratio for death (1.66; 95% confidence interval, 1.31-2.12; P < .001) in the sensitivity analysis by traditional multivariable adjustment. The LC cohort had a higher risk of liver-related death (4.1% vs 0.7%; P = .001) and liver-related readmission (6.2% vs 0.3%; P < .001). As expected, the advanced LC group had a higher mortality rate than the early LC group (P = .022). The risk for reintervention, redo open aortic surgery (P = .859), and redo stent graft therapy (P = .179) was not statistically significantly different between the two cohorts.

Conclusions: Short-term results after EVAR and TEVAR are promising in patients with LC, despite poor long-term outcomes, because of the nature of LC. Innovations in endovascular therapy for aortic disease have improved surgical outcomes, even in high-risk patients with LC.