Open versus endovascular stent graft repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms: a meta-analysis of randomized trials

Objectives: This study sought to evaluate the short-, intermediate-, and longer-term outcomes after endovascular versus open repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA), including both AAA-related and all-cause mortality.

Background: Endovascular stent graft placement for AAA has gained broad acceptance as an alternative to open surgical repair due to a lower perioperative morbidity and mortality. The intermediate- and long-term all-cause and aneurysm-related mortality vary among studies. Thus, we sought to perform a meta-analysis of open versus endovascular repair for treating AAA.

Methods: Electronic databases were queried for identification of prospective, randomized trials of open surgery versus endovascular stent graft repair of AAA. A total of 10 published papers reporting on 6 studies at different follow-up intervals were identified; they involved 2,899 patients with AAA repair procedures, of whom, 1,470 underwent endovascular stent graft AAA exclusion and 1,429 were treated by open AAA repair.

Results: At 30 days, the pooled relative risk of all-cause mortality was lower in the endovascular group (relative risk [RR]: 0.35, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.19 to 0.64) than in the open surgery group. At intermediate follow-up, the all-cause mortality had a nonsignificant difference (RR: 0.78, 95% CI: 0.57 to 1.08), the AAA-related mortality was significantly lower (RR: 0.46, 95% CI: 0.28 to 0.74) and reintervention rates were higher (RR: 1.48, 95% CI: 1.06 to 2.08) in the endovascular group than in the open surgery group. At long-term follow-up, there was no significant difference in all-cause mortality (RR: 0.99, 95% CI: 0.85 to 1.15) or AAA-related mortality (RR: 1.58, 95% CI: 0.20 to 12.74), whereas the significant difference in the rate of reinterventions persisted (RR: 2.54, 95% CI: 1.58 to 4.08).

Conclusions: In patients randomized to open or endovascular AAA repair, all-cause perioperative mortality, as well as AAA-related mortality at short- and intermediate-term follow-up are lower in patients undergoing endovascular stent graft placement. This was associated with greater reintervention in the endovascular group noted at intermediate follow-up. Long-term survival appears to converge between the 2 groups.