Durability of benefits of endovascular versus conventional abdominal aortic aneurysm repair

Purpose: Endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair is reported to result in less initial patient morbidity and a shorter hospital length of Stay (LOS) when compared with conventional AAA repair. We sought to examine the durability of this result during the intermediate follow-up interval. Methods: The records of all admissions for all patient,, who underwent AAA repair during a 26-month interval were reviewed. Results: Three hundred thirty-seven (337) patients Underwent procedures to repair AAAs ( 163 open and 174 endovascular). Endovascular procedures were performed with a variety of devices (Talent, 108; Ancure, 36; AneuRx, 26; Zenith, 2, and Cordis, 2) and configurations (141 bifurcated and 33 aortomonoiliac). The mean follow-up period was 10.6 months (endovascular repair) and 12.3 months (open repair). LOS did not Significantly vary by device (P=.24 to P=.92) or configuration (P=.24). The initial median LOS for procedures was significantly shorter (P=.009) for endovascular repairs (5 days) than for open procedures (8 days). However, the patients who underwent endovascular repair were more likely to be readmitted during the follow-up interval when compared with patients who underwent open procedure. The readmission-free survival rate after AAA repair at 12 months was 95% for patients for open AAA repair versus 71% for patients for endovascular repair (P<.001). If the total hospital days were compared, including the initial and all subsequent AAA-related admissions, there was no significant difference for mean LOS for patients who underwent endovascular versus open AAA procedures (11 days versus 13.6 days; P=.21). The patients for endovascular AAA repair most commonly needed readmission for treatment of endoleak, (n=31), wound infection (n=12), and graft limb thrombosis (n=9). Although women had similar LOS to men for endovascular repair (P=.44), they had longer initial LOS for open AAA repair (15 versus 10 days; P=.03). After endovascular repair, women were more likely than men to be readmitted by 12 months (51% versus 71% readmission-free survival rate; P=.03) and they had longer LOS on readmission (13.2 versus 5.2 davs; P=.006), No gender differences were identified for patients after open AAA repair regarding readmission-free survival rate (P=.09) or LOS on readmission (P =.98). Conclusion: Although initial LOS was shorter for the patients who underwent endovascular as compared with conventional AAA repair, this advantage was lost during the follow-up interval because of frequent readmission for the treatment of procedure related complications, chiefly endoleak. These readmission,.; frequently involved the performance of additional invasive procedures. Gender differences existed regarding LOS and the likelihood of complications after open and endovascular AAA repair.