Michael Z Tong1, Matthew J Eagleton2, Eric E Roselli3, Eugene H Blackstone4, Fei Xiang5, Mudathir Ibrahim3, Douglas R Johnston3, Edward G Soltesz3, Faisal G Bakaeen3, Sean P Lyden6, Andrew J Toth7, Huan Liu8, Lars G Svensson3. 1. Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Heart, Vascular, & Thoracic Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio. Electronic address: tongz@ccf.org. 2. Department of Vascular Surgery, Heart, Vascular, & Thoracic Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio; Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts. 3. Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Heart, Vascular, & Thoracic Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio. 4. Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Heart, Vascular, & Thoracic Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio; Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio. 5. Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Heart, Vascular, & Thoracic Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio; Nanjing Cardiovascular Institute, Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing, China. 6. Department of Vascular Surgery, Heart, Vascular, & Thoracic Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio. 7. Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio. 8. Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Heart, Vascular, & Thoracic Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio; Department of Cardiac Surgery, Zhonghsan Hospital, Shanghai, China.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Open repair is the standard of care for patients with descending thoracic and thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms. Although effective, surgery carries a high risk of morbidity and mortality. Endovascular stent grafts were introduced to treat these aneurysms in patients considered too high risk for open repair. Early results are promising, but later results are incompletely known. Therefore, we sought to compare short- and intermediate-term outcomes of open vs endovascular repair for these aneurysms. METHODS: From 2000 to 2010, 1053 patients underwent open (n = 457) or endovascular (n = 596) repair of descending thoracic and thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms at Cleveland Clinic. To balance patient characteristics between these groups, propensity score matching was performed, yielding 278 well-matched pairs (61% of possible pairs). End points included short- and long-term outcomes. RESULTS: In matched patients, compared with endovascular stenting, open repair achieved similar in-hospital death (n = 23 [8.3%] vs n = 21 [7.6%], P = .80) and occurrence of paralysis and stroke (n = 10 [3.6%] vs n = 6 [2.2%], P = .30), despite a longer postoperative stay (median 11 vs 6 days), more dialysis-dependent acute renal failure (n = 24 [8.6%] vs n = 9 [3.3%], P = .008), and prolonged ventilation (n = 106 [46%] vs n = 17 [6.3%], P < .0001). Open repair resulted in better 10-year survival than endovascular repair (52% vs 33%, P < .0001), and aortic reintervention was less frequent (4% vs 21%, P < .0001). Despite a decrease in the first postoperative year, average aneurysm size did not recover to normal range after endovascular stenting. CONCLUSIONS: Open repair of descending thoracic and thoracoabdominal aneurysms can achieve acceptable short-term outcomes with better intermediate-term outcomes than endovascular repair.
BACKGROUND: Open repair is the standard of care for patients with descending thoracic and thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms. Although effective, surgery carries a high risk of morbidity and mortality. Endovascular stent grafts were introduced to treat these aneurysms in patients considered too high risk for open repair. Early results are promising, but later results are incompletely known. Therefore, we sought to compare short- and intermediate-term outcomes of open vs endovascular repair for these aneurysms. METHODS: From 2000 to 2010, 1053 patients underwent open (n = 457) or endovascular (n = 596) repair of descending thoracic and thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms at Cleveland Clinic. To balance patient characteristics between these groups, propensity score matching was performed, yielding 278 well-matched pairs (61% of possible pairs). End points included short- and long-term outcomes. RESULTS: In matched patients, compared with endovascular stenting, open repair achieved similar in-hospital death (n = 23 [8.3%] vs n = 21 [7.6%], P = .80) and occurrence of paralysis and stroke (n = 10 [3.6%] vs n = 6 [2.2%], P = .30), despite a longer postoperative stay (median 11 vs 6 days), more dialysis-dependent acute renal failure (n = 24 [8.6%] vs n = 9 [3.3%], P = .008), and prolonged ventilation (n = 106 [46%] vs n = 17 [6.3%], P < .0001). Open repair resulted in better 10-year survival than endovascular repair (52% vs 33%, P < .0001), and aortic reintervention was less frequent (4% vs 21%, P < .0001). Despite a decrease in the first postoperative year, average aneurysm size did not recover to normal range after endovascular stenting. CONCLUSIONS: Open repair of descending thoracic and thoracoabdominal aneurysms can achieve acceptable short-term outcomes with better intermediate-term outcomes than endovascular repair.