Operative mortality and long-term relative survival of patients operated on for asymptomatic abdominal aortic aneurysm

Objective:Assessment of mortality and long-term relative survival following repair of asymptomatic abdominal aortic aneurysms.Design:Retrospective review.Setting:University Hospital.Materials:Three hundred and twenty seven patients with a median age of 68 years and male to female proportion of 10:1.Chief Outcome Measures:Operative mortality and long-term mortality obtained from Norwegian Registrar's Office. Demographically matched expected survival calculated from death rate tables published by the Norwegian Central Bureau of Statistics.Main Results:The overall operative mortality was 5.2%. Ten-year survival rate for all the patients was 38% compared to the expected of 52%. The standard mortality rate was 1.30, indicating a 30% higher mortality compared to a demographically matched population. Older patients and patients with known cardiac disease had significantly increased operative mortality. These patients also had the lowest long-term survival. Patients with cardiac disease suffered a postoperative mortality more than two times expected.Conclusions:Further studies are needed to define subgroups unsuitable for elective surgery