Background: Although recent guidelines recommend endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) for robust younger patients, we have been limiting our indication to older patients or those who are physically frail. This study compares long-term outcomes of our series of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) treated with endovascular repair (ER) and open surgery (OS), using propensity score matching.
Methods: Between June 2007 and October 2014, 819 patients with infrarenal AAA underwent elective repair at our institution. Among them, 737 patients (386 ERs and 351 OSs) with over 1-year follow-up or any events (reintervention or mortality) were enrolled. Covariates for matching included age, sex, hypertension, coronary arterial disease, obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, stroke, malignancy, hemodialysis, ejection fraction, serum creatinine, and respiratory function.
Results: After propensity score matching, 157 pairs were selected. In the original cohort, overall survival at 5 years was 84.1% in ER and 89.3% in OS; the difference was significant (P = 0.019). The freedom-from-reintervention rates at 5 years were also significantly different, 81.8% in ER and 92.8% in OS (P = 0.007). In the matched cohort, age and comorbidities were similar both in ER and OS. The overall survival at 5 years was 85.4% and 90.1% in ER and OS, respectively; the difference was not significant (P = 0.242). The freedom-from-reintervention rates at 5 years were 81.1% in ER and 89.1% in OS; these were also not significantly different (P = 0.178).
Conclusions: Risk-adjusted comparisons revealed that long-term outcomes of ER and OS were comparable among our relatively frail patients in their age 70s. Our results failed to show the long-term advantage of EVAR in rather high-risk patients and provided no supportive evidence for our selection criteria.
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