Perioperative outcomes for elective open abdominal aortic aneurysm repair since the adoption of endovascular grafting procedures.

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate and compare our perioperative outcomes for open abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) between the pre-endovascular aneurysm repair (pre-EVAR) and EVAR eras and to analyse whether the AAA that was excluded from EVAR could affect the perioperative outcome.

Methods: The Kurume University Hospital vascular registry was reviewed to identify all patients undergoing an elective open AAA repair from January 2004 through November 2006 (pre-EVAR era, n = 99) and from December 2006 through June 2010 (EVAR era, n = 125). The early clinical outcomes between the two groups were compared.

Results: In the EVAR era, the proportion of EVAR in all elective AAA repairs was 43.4%. The EVAR era had a significantly higher proportion of very elderly patients over 80 years of age (23.2% vs. 11.1%, P = 0.0391). The morbidity rates were similar between the two groups (22.3% vs. 24,8%) and the mortality rate was 0% for both.

Conclusions: Despite the increased complexity of OAR in the EVAR era, we believe that OAR remains a valid procedure for AAA repair.