Complications of standard elective abdominal aortic aneurysm repair.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate complications of standard elective repair of infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysms.


METHODS
Prospective multicentre study.


METHODS
Two-hundred and ninety-one consecutive patients undergoing standard elective surgery for an infrarenal aortic aneurysm.


METHODS
Recording adverse events according to the recommendations of the Ad Hoc Committee on Reporting Standards.


RESULTS
Seventy-five patients (26%) experienced some complication following elective aortic aneurysm surgery. Twenty-two patients had a mild complication (7.6%, 95% C.I. 4.8-11.2%), 27 a moderate (9.3%, 95% C.I. 6.2-13.2%) and 26 patients had a severe and/or fatal complication (8.9%, 95% C.I. 5.9-12.8%). The in-hospital mortality was 4.1% (12 patients, 95% C.I. 2.2-7.1%). Cardiac failure was the commonest primary cause for death (58%). Twenty-two per cent of the patients had a non-fatal complication: the most frequent being pulmonary (10%) and cardiac (10%). Patients with a history of cardiac events had a five times higher risk of a fatal outcome (95% C.I. 1.1-24.0) and a two and a half times higher risk of any severe fatal or non-fatal complication (95% C.I. 1.0-6.5). Other risk factors were advancing age and the presence of pulmonary disease.


CONCLUSIONS
In addition to mortality, morbidity figures of standard aneurysm operations are important, as well as associated risk factors. This is especially true when evaluating early repair of small aneurysms and new endovascular techniques.
Akkersdijk
G J
GJ
Department of Surgery, University Hospital Leiden, The Netherlands.
van der Graaf
Y
Y
Moll
F L
FL
de Vries
A C
AC
Kitslaar
P J
PJ
van Bockel
J H
JH
Hak
E
E
Eikelboom
B C
BC
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017544:Aortic Aneurysm, Abdominal / Q000601:surgery*; D002303:Cardiac Output, Low / Q000209:etiology; D002423:Cause of Death; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D017558:Elective Surgical Procedures; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D007431:Intraoperative Complications; D016015:Logistic Models; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D008173:Lung Diseases, Obstructive / Q000150:complications; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D015996:Survival Rate