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Christian de Virgilio, MD; Julie Tran, MD; Roger Lewis, MD, PhD; Carlos Donayre, MD; Christine Dauphine, MD; Rodney White, MD; Hao Bui, MD

Arch Surg. 2006;141:905-910.

Hypothesis  Endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms has made considerable advancements with respect to perioperative mortality. However, fewer data are available regarding factors affecting long-term mortality, including the impact of adverse perioperative cardiac events. Perioperative clinical cardiac risk factors are significant predictors of long-term mortality.

Design, Setting, and Patients  Retrospective review of a prospective database of 468 patients who underwent endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair from June 3, 1996, to January 31, 2005.

Main Outcome Measures  Preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative factors were analyzed using multivariate Cox proportional hazards models to identify statistically significant independent predictors of long-term survival (beyond 30 days and after discharge from the hospital).

Results  The mean age was 74 years, and 90% of the patients were male. Median follow-up was 2.57 years (interquartile range, 0.92-4.06 years). The leading cause of death was cardiac in nature. On multivariate analysis, the number of preoperative clinical cardiac risk factors (P<.001), spending 2 or more days in the intensive care unit (P<.001), and having an ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (P<.001) were predictors of decreased long-term survival. Of note, having a perioperative non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction was not predictive of decreased survival (P = .09).

Conclusions  Adverse cardiac events are the leading cause of long-term mortality following endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms. Preoperative clinical cardiac risk factors are significant predictors of long-term mortality, as are a prolonged intensive care unit stay and a perioperative ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction. A perioperative non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction did not influence long-term outcome.

Author Affiliations: Division of Vascular Surgery, Department of Surgery, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, Calif.