Long-Term Survival and Quality of Life After Open Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair

Open repair of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) generally involves postsurgery admission to the intensive care unit (ICU). Few studies have evaluated the impact of surgery for either ruptured or nonruptured AAA (with postoperative ICU treatment) on long-term survival and quality of life. The primary aim of this study was to quantify long-term survival and health-related quality of life (HrQpL) of a cohort of patients undergoing open AAA repair after hospital discharge. Consecutive patients undergoing open elective or acute AAA reconstruction with postoperative admission to the ICU and discharged alive from the hospital during 2009 were identified. Primary outcome measures were 1-year and long-term mortality. The secondary outcome was the HrQoL using the EuroQol-6D (EQ-6D) questionnaire at the end of the follow-up period. A total of 263 patients were treated and postoperatively discharged alive: 56 had a ruptured AAA (rAAA), 35 a symptomatic AAA, and 172 an asymptomatic AAA. The 1-year mortality after open AAA repair was 8 %. Overall, 39 % of patients died within 10 postoperative years (mean 6.0 +/- A 2.8 years). Long-term survival of patients with a ruptured or symptomatic aneurysm was similar to that of patients undergoing elective aneurysm repair. Long-term HrQoL of the total study population was worse than that of an age-matched general Dutch population on the EQ-us (range 0-1, difference 0.12). This decrease in HrQoL was mainly seen in mobility, self-care, usual activities, and cognition. Ten years after open AAA repair, the overall survival rate was 59 %. Long-term survival and HrQoL were similar for patients with a repaired ruptured or symptomatic aneurysm and those who underwent elective aneurysm repair. There were also no differences in patients with infrarenal versus juxtarenal/suprarenal aneurysms. Surviving patients had a lower HrQoL than the age-matched general Dutch population, especially regarding mobility, self-care, usual activities, and cognition.