Prospective study of early and late morbidity and mortality in the abdominal aortic aneurysm surgical repair

To prospectively assess early and late morbidity and mortality of patients undergoing elective surgical repair of abdominal infrarenal aortic aneurysms and to determine the independent predictors of cardiac events. For 6 consecutive years, this study analyzed 130 patients, who underwent routine standardized preoperative assessment always with the same clinical, surgical, and anesthesia teams. In-hospital mortality was 3.1% (4 patients), and the major cause of death was mesenteric ischemia, which occurred in 3 patients. Forty-eight (37%) nonsurgical complications occurred as follows: 8.5% were cardiac complications and 28.5% were noncardiac complications. The most common complications were the pulmonary ones, which occurred in 14 (10.8%) patients. Survivals in the first, third, and sixth postoperative years were 95%, 87%, and 76%, respectively. The variables that significantly correlated with morbidity and mortality were clinical predictors, mean age of 70.5 years, and presence of heart failure and chronic renal failure. No predictor of late morbidity and mortality was identified. Although this is considered a highly complex surgery, mortality is low, the cardiac complications are not very significant, and the patients have a good long-term evolution.