The Role of Open Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair in the Era of Fenestrated Endovascular Repair

Abstract

Background: Advances in endovascular aneurysm repair have been made with new commercially available devices for treatment of more complex aortic pathology. Despite that, adhering to instructions for use (IFUs) excludes multiple patients necessitating the need for open surgical repair (OSR). This study aims to review the need for OSR for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) in a quaternary academic setting with a large volume of patients treated both with open and commercially available devices.

Methods: A retrospective review was performed of all patients who underwent elective AAA repair between January 2012 and December 2022 at Cleveland Clinic Foundation. Computed tomography angiograms were reviewed for patients who underwent OSR and anatomic characteristics obtained. IFU for the commercially available Zenith fenestrated device (Cook Medical, Bloomington, IN) were used to determine anatomic constraints.

Results: During the study interval 849 patients underwent elective AAA OSR. The patient population was an average age of 69 ± 8 years, 91.5% Caucasian, 75.5% male, and 90.3% had a history of tobacco use. The average diameter of the infrarenal abdominal aorta was 5.8 cm ± 1.1 SD. OSR was performed for 786 patients who had anatomy outside the IFU of the device. Indications for OSR were an aneurysm neck <4 mm (59.7%), extensive aortic neck thrombus (16.1%), aortic neck angulation >45° (13.4%), iliac artery tortuosity >40° of angulation (58.9%), unilateral iliac artery aneurysm (15.1%), bilateral iliac artery aneurysms (14.2%), and insufficient iliac artery access diameter <7 mm (2.4%). Of those with a short neck, 89.8% were juxtarenal aneurysms and 17.2% were type 4 thoracoabdominal aneurysms. Overall, 92.6% of all patients underwent OSR due to at least one anatomic constraint that precluded the use of the fenestrated endovascular aneurysm repair device and excluded patients often had multiple anatomic constraints.

Conclusions: Evidence in the literature supports the strict adherence to IFU protocols for Zenith fenestrated. It is our institution's practice to continue to perform open AAA repair for patients with anatomic constraints to currently available devices. Despite the available endovascular device treating juxtarenal AAA, there is still a significant need for open aortic surgery. High volume aortic centers are needed to continue to offer all available treatment options.