title: First long-term evidence supporting endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms.
abstract: The traditional method of treating abdominal aortic aneurysms with open surgical repair has been steadily replaced by endovascular repair, thought to be a more minimally invasive approach. It is not known, however, whether the endovascular approach is truly less invasive for operative physiology; in addition, this approach has a different spectrum of complications. As such, it is uncertain whether elective endovascular repair of nonruptured aortic aneurysms reduces long-term morbidity and mortality compared with traditional open approaches. In this article, the authors evaluate a recent publication investigating long-term outcomes of a prospective randomized multicenter trial evaluating patients with asymptomatic abdominal aortic aneurysms treated with either endovascular or open repair, and discuss the results in the context of current evidence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Section of Vascular Surgery, Yale University School of Medicine, 10 Amistad Street, New Haven, CT 06520-8089, USA.
authors.forename: Jeffrey E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Indes
authors.forename: Bart E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Muhs
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dardik