10/21/2009 - News
Study Examines Merits of Endovascular Versus Open Aneurysm Repair
By: June Chen, MD
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An abdominal aortic aneurysm occurs when the major blood vessel supplying blood to the abdomen, pelvis, and legs becomes abnormally large or bulges outward. A potential complication of abdominal aortic aneurysm is that of the blood vessel tearing open. Each year in the United States, 45,000 people with unruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm undergo elective repair. Endovascular repair is a less invasive method of fixing abdominal aortic aneurysm than open repair, but short-term outcomes of endovascular repair are not well-studied.
In the October 14, 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers from the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Minneapolis, Minn. and their colleagues performed a clinical trial of 881 veterans at least 49 years of age with abdominal aortic aneurysm in order to compare post-operative outcomes up to 2 years after either endovascular or open aneurysm repair. They found that 30-day mortality was lower among veterans who underwent endovascular aneurysm repair, but there was no significant difference in mortality between the 2 procedures at 2 years. Veterans who had endovascular repair did, however, have less blood loss and shorter hospital stays.
Based on the findings of this study, both endovascular and open aneurysm repair have low rates of perioperative mortality. Although there seem to be some early advantages of endovascular aneurysm repair, longer-term studies are needed to fully assess the benefits and risks of the 2 procedures.
Source:
JAMA. 2009;302(14):1535-1542.
Created on: 10/21/2009
Reviewed on: 10/21/2009
Reviewed on: 10/21/2009
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