Open repair of intact thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms in the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program

Objective: Open surgical repair of thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms (TAAAs) is uncommon. Mortality rates of 20% are reported in studies using national data and are 5% to 8% in single-institution studies. Clinical trials are currently evaluating branched and fenestrated endografts. The purpose of this study is to establish a benchmark for future comparisons with endovascular trials using open repair of TAAAs in the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) database. Methods: We identified all patients undergoing open elective and emergency surgical repair of intact TAAAs in NSQIP (2005 to 2010) using Current Procedural Terminology (American Medical Association, Chicago, Ill) and International Classification of Diseases, 9th Edition codes. We analyzed demographics, comorbidities, 30-day mortality, postoperative complications, and length of stay. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify predictors of mortality. Results: We identified 450 patients who underwent open surgical repair (418 elective, 32 emergent) of an intact TAAA. Mean age was 69.4 years, 60.7% were male, and 85.6% were white. Comorbidities included hypertension (87.1%), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (27.3%), prior stroke or transient ischemic attack (16.7%), diabetes (11.6%), and peripheral vascular disease (9.6%). Thirty-day mortality was 10.0%. Pulmonary complications were the most common: failure to wean from ventilator (39.1%), pneumonia (23.1%), and reintubation (13.8%). Acute renal failure requiring dialysis occurred in 10.7% of patients. Multivariable analysis (odds ratio [95% confidence interval]) showed predictors of mortality were emergent repair (3.3 [1.03-10.83]; P = .04), age >70 years (3.5 [1.03-7.56], P = .001), preoperative dialysis (8.4 [1.90-37.29], P = .005), cardiac complication (2.9 [1.05-8.21], P = .04), and renal complications (8.4 [3.41-20.56], P < .001). Conclusions: In this study of NSQIP hospitals, the first to analyze open surgical repair of TAAAs, the 30-day mortality rate of 10.0% is similar to single-institution reports. However, morbidity and mortality after open TAAA repair remain high, confirming the need for less invasive procedures.