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Meta-Analysis
. 2015 Feb 8;2015(2):CD001835.
doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD001835.pub4.

Surgery for small asymptomatic abdominal aortic aneurysms

Giovanni Filardo  1 , Janet T Powell, Melissa Ashley-Marie Martinez, David J Ballard
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Surgery for small asymptomatic abdominal aortic aneurysms

Giovanni Filardo et al. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. .

Update in

Abstract

Background: An abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is an abnormal ballooning of the major abdominal artery. Some AAAs present as emergencies and require surgery; others remain asymptomatic. Treatment of asymptomatic AAAs depends on many factors, but an important one is the size of the aneurysm, as risk of rupture increases with aneurysm size. Large asymptomatic AAAs (greater than 5.5 cm in diameter) are usually repaired surgically; very small AAAs (less than 4.0 cm diameter) are monitored with ultrasonography. Debate continues over the appropriate roles of immediate repair and surveillance with repair on subsequent enlargement in people presenting with asymptomatic AAAs of 4.0 cm to 5.5 cm diameter. This is the third update of the review first published in 1999.

Objectives: To compare mortality, quality of life, and cost effectiveness of immediate surgical repair versus routine ultrasound surveillance in people with asymptomatic AAAs between 4.0 cm and 5.5 cm in diameter.

Search methods: For this update, the Cochrane Peripheral Vascular Diseases Group Trials Search Co-ordinator searched the Specialised Register (February 2014) and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL; 2014, Issue 1). We checked reference lists of relevant articles for additional studies.

Selection criteria: Randomised controlled trials in which men and women with asymptomatic AAAs of diameter 4.0 cm to 5.5 cm were randomly allocated to immediate repair or imaging-based surveillance at least every six months. Outcomes had to include mortality or survival.

Data collection and analysis: Three members of the review team independently extracted the data, which were cross-checked by other team members. Risk ratios (RR) (endovascular aneurysm repair only), hazard ratios (HR) (open repair only), and 95% confidence intervals based on Mantel-Haenszel Chi(2) statistic were estimated at one and six years (open repair only) following randomisation. We included all relevant published studies in this review.

Main results: For this update, four trials with a combined total of 3314 participants fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Two trials compared surveillance with immediate open repair; two trials compared surveillance with immediate endovascular repair. Overall, the risk of bias within the included studies was low and the quality of the evidence high. The four trials showed an early survival benefit in the surveillance group (due to 30-day operative mortality with surgery) but no significant differences in long-term survival (adjusted HR 0.88, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.75 to 1.02, mean follow-up 10 years; HR 1.21, 95% CI 0.95 to 1.54, mean follow-up 4.9 years; HR 0.76, 95% CI 0.30 to 1.93, median follow-up 32.4 months; HR 1.01, 95% CI 0.49 to 2.07, mean follow-up 20 months). A pooled analysis of participant-level data from two trials (with a maximum follow-up of seven to eight years) showed no statistically significant difference in survival between immediate open repair and surveillance (propensity score-adjusted HR 0.99; 95% CI 0.83 to 1.18), and that this lack of treatment effect did not vary by AAA diameter (P = 0.39) or participant age (P = 0.61). The meta-analysis of mortality at one year for the endovascular trials likewise showed no significant association (RR at one year 1.15, 95% CI 0.60 to 2.17). Quality-of-life results among trials were conflicting.

Authors' conclusions: The results from the four trials to date demonstrate no advantage to immediate repair for small AAA (4.0 cm to 5.5 cm), regardless of whether open or endovascular repair is used and, at least for open repair, regardless of patient age and AAA diameter. Thus, neither immediate open nor immediate endovascular repair of small AAAs is supported by currently available evidence.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

JTP was a co‐investigator in the UKSAT study and DJB was a co‐investigator of the ADAM trial. GF: none known JTP: none known MAMM: none known DJB: none known

Figures

1
1
Study flow diagram.
2
2
Risk of bias graph: review authors' judgements about each risk of bias item presented as percentages across all included studies.
3
3
Risk of bias summary: review authors' judgements about each risk of bias item for each included study.
4
4
Forest plot of comparison: Immediate repair (either EVAR or open surgery) versus ultrasound surveillance at one year, outcome: 1.1 Mortality.
5
5
Forest plot of comparison: Immediate repair (open surgery) versus ultrasound surveillance at six years.
1.1
1.1. Analysis
Comparison 1 Immediate EVAR repair versus ultrasound surveillance at one year, Outcome 1 Mortality.
2.1
2.1. Analysis
Comparison 2 Costs of immediate repair versus ultrasound surveillance, Outcome 1 Health service costs.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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References

References to studies included in this review

ADAM {published data only}
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PIVOTAL {published data only}
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Canadian Trial {unpublished data only}
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