Initial experience with endovascular aortic aneurysm repair without cardiologists or radiologists--do vascular surgeons really need them?

Abstract

Endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair (EVAR) has been predominantly accomplished by teams of multidisciplinary interventionalists, frequently under the primary direction of cardiologists and radiologists. The purpose of this paper was to examine the feasibility and safety of an initial experience of EVARs performed by vascular surgeons at a single institution without other interventionalists. The authors reviewed the first 50 EVARs performed solely by vascular surgeons at our hospital, which we believed represented a fair and sizable enough learning curve for this new procedure. The operations were performed in an endovascular operating room and the surgeons had prior endovascular experience. The EVAR protocol included preoperative abdominal computed tomography (CT) scans and aortograms, same-day admissions, epidural anesthesia, transfer to the ward the day of surgery, and discharge the first postoperative day. CT scans were performed on postoperative day 1 and then annually, unless duplex ultrasound (DU) suggested an endoleak. DU was performed 1 week postoperatively, every 3 months for the first year, and then every 6 months thereafter. Of the first 23 patients, 3 required immediate conversion to open repair because of device malfunction (all in a Phase III FDA trial) and 1 underwent conversion 3 weeks after initial graft placement during treatment of a failing endograft limb as diagnosed by duplex ultrasonography. None of the next 27 cases required conversion. In 2 (4%) patients, graft limb occlusions occurred postoperatively and were treated with femorofemoral crossover grafts. There were 5 (10%) endoleaks: 2 were treated endovascularly, 1 closed spontaneously, and 2 were followed. Several advanced adjunctive endovascular procedures were performed concomitantly during EVAR including internal iliac artery coil embolization using aortic crossover catheters in 16% (8/50) of patients, proximal or distal extension cuff placement in 16% (8/50), and graft limb stenting in 50% (25/50). The average length of stay for patients who underwent uncomplicated aortic stent grafts was 1.9 days (range, 1-4 days) compared to 2.3 days for all patients (range 1-13 days). In no case were other interventionalists necessary for intraoperative assistance. These results of EVAR performed solely by vascular surgeons are comparable to reports by multidisciplinary teams and support the premise that vascular surgeons with endovascular skills have the knowledge and capability to begin performing EVAR independently of other specialists.