Analysis of prognostic factors for postoperative complications and reinterventions after open surgical repair and endovascular aneurysm repair in patients with abdominal aortic aneurysm.

Objective: A definitive treatment for patients with abdominal aortic aneurysm considering age and comorbidities has not been identified. In the present study, we retrospectively validated treatment outcomes in Japanese patients and proposed the treatment strategy of open surgical repair (OSR) and endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR).

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed data for patients undergoing EVAR or OSR between 2006 and 2017. Patients with ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm were excluded. We examined post-operative complications, operative mortality, re-intervention and prognosis.

Results: Throughout the study period, 405 patients underwent EVAR and 176 patients underwent OSR. The percentage of patients with post-operative complications was 35.8% in the OSR group, compared with 13.1% in the EVAR group (P < 0.01). The operative mortality rate was 0.49% in the EVAR group and 0.57% in the OSR group (P = 1.00). With a multivariate analysis, age, hemodialysis, modified Frailty Index (mFI), and OSR were risk factors for post-operative complications. The 5-year re-intervention free survival rate was 63.0 % with hostile neck EVAR compared with 83.1 % with favorable neck EVAR and 86.1 % with OSR group (P < 0.01). With a multivariate analysis, hemodialysis, mFI, and hostile neck EVAR were risk factors for re-intervention. The 5-year overall survival rate was 51.9 % with hostile neck EVAR compared with 73.2 % with favorable neck EVAR and 79.0 % with OSR group (P < 0.01). With a multivariate analysis, age, mFI, and hostile neck EVAR were poor prognostic factors.

Conclusion: Age, mFI, hemodialysis and hostile neck anatomy are useful predictors of post-operative complications, re-intervention and overall survival, and could be useful for informing treatment selection between OSR and EVAR.