Abdominal aortic aneurysm repair in nonagenarians

Abstract

Background: The feasibility of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair in nonagenarians on a national level is largely unknown. We undertook this study to determine the outcomes of open and endovascular AAA repair in this population on a national level.

Methods: A retrospective review of the Nationwide Inpatient Sample Database was conducted to determine all patients 90 years and older who underwent either an open or endovascular repair of a nonruptured AAA from 1997 to 2008. Preoperative comorbidities and postoperative complications in the inpatient setting were recorded. The primary end point was mortality. Secondary end points were postoperative neurologic, cardiac, and respiratory complications. This group was then compared with all adult patients less than 90 years old (age, 18-89) who had undergone repair of a nonruptured AAA during this same period.

Results: Four hundred twenty-three patients 90 years and older underwent repair of a nonruptured AAA (compared with 52,370 < 90). Of these, 132 patients underwent open repair (31%) and 291 (69%) underwent endovascular repair. Inpatient mortality was 18.3% for the ≥90 open, 4.6% for the <90 open, 3.1% for the ≥90 endovascular, and 1.2% for <90 endovascular group.

Conclusions: Open repair of AAA's in nonagenarians is associated with significantly high perioperative mortality, whereas endovascular repair is feasible with acceptable perioperative mortality. This mortality, although significantly higher than that obtained for endovascular repair in patients <90, is nonetheless not significantly different for the mortality noted for patients <90 undergoing open AAA repair.