Endovascular Repair of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms in Women after FDA Approval: Results, Complications, and Limitations

Abstract

Women account for approximately 25% of patients with AAAs, but unfortunately, only 8-10% of patients considered candidates for endovascular treatment during prospective trials were women. We reviewed our experience with open surgical and endovascular techniques before and after the FDA approval of the Ancure and AneuRx devices to evaluate our results and the role of endovascular treatment of AAAs in women. From January 1999 to August 2000, 269 patients underwent elective repair of their AAAs at our institution. The 20-month period was divided into the 10 months before and after the FDA approval of the endovascular devices for comparison. In the initial time period, 75 patients (62 men and 13 women) underwent repair with 40% undergoing endovascular repair. In the 10 months after FDA approval, 194 patients (160 men and 34 women) underwent repair with 87% undergoing endovascular treatment. Ninety-two percent (155) of the patients undergoing endovascular repair in this period were treated with the AneuRx device. These 155 patients were divided into two groups based on gender to compare their early treatment results. The FDA approval of endovascular grafts has profoundly affected the treatment of infrarenal AAAs in the United States. Women continue to account for a small, but complex, proportion of patients treated with available endovascular devices and the results in these patients is worse than their male counterparts. Careful patient selection and meticulous operative techniques are needed to reliably treat women with available endovascular devices. Further developments are necessary to improve the current results and increase the proportion of women being safely and effectively treated with endovascular devices.