Study: Less Invasive Surgery to Repair Abdominal Aneurysm Best

A Harvard Medical School study of patients treated for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) reveals that a less invasive treatment called endovascular surgery lead to better outcomes in elderly patients.

The researchers studied more than 45,000 Medicare patients who were treated for AAA and compared outcomes and complications for the traditional surgery, which involves a large abdominal incision and application of graft to repair the aneurysm, with endovascular repair, which involved smaller incisions and repair of the AAA with a fabric covered stent, which shunts blood around the weakened area of the abdominal aortic wall. They reported their findings in the Jan. 31, 2008 edition of the New England journal of Medicine.

The researchers conclude that when surgical mortality and morbidity and incidence of complications are compared the endovascular procedure is better for older patients.

According to statistics, AAA tends to occur predominantly in older patients, with incidence if AAA peaking at around age 70 years. AAA is more common in men, and patients who smoke or are former smokers are more likely to develop the condition than those who never smoked.


Source: New England Journal of Medicine, Jan, 31, 2008