Background: The purpose of the present study was to compare the long-term survival in matched cohorts of patients with infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) undergoing an elective open repair (OR) or an endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR).
Methods: Patients with a primary elective repair of an infrarenal aortic aneurysm between 1998 and 2006 were identified in a retrospective review of our single-center database. EVAR and OR patients were matched with respect to age, gender, renal disease, tobacco use, hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and coronary artery disease. The primary end points were the early mortality and all-cause mortality during follow-up.
Results: A total of 465 patients with elective infrarenal aortic aneurysm repair were identified in the database. The EVAR and OR patients were matched according to the above-mentioned characteristics, and finally, 108 patients were included in each group. The early mortality encountered was only one death in the open group (P = 0.316). The Kaplan-Meier survival analysis by the log-rank test showed no difference in cumulative survival between OR group and EVAR group (P = 0.458). Seventeen reinterventions (16.7%) in the EVAR group vs. 7 (6.5%) in the OR group (P = 0.018) were necessary during follow-up.
Conclusions: OR and EVAR can be performed safely for elective treatment of AAA. The reintervention rate is, as expected, significantly higher in the EVAR group, but the long-term survival remains equal in both groups.
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