Limited Incision through a Retroperitoneal Approach in Abdominal Aortic Surgery

(Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Dokkyo University Koshigaya Hospital, Koshigaya, Japan and Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Sayama Hospital*, Sayama, Japan)

Hiroshi Kiyama* Takao Imazeki Yoshihito Irie
Noriyuki Murai Nobuaki Kaki Shigeyoshi Gon
Masahito Saito Souichi Shioguchi
To reduce surgical invasion, we recently used a limited incision through a retroperitoneal approach in the abdominal aortic surgery. Between May 2001 and March 2002, 18 patients who had infrarenal aortic aneurysm, iliac aneurysm, or aortoiliac occlusive disease were surgically treated using a new approach at Dokkyo University Koshigaya Hospital. Although 1 patient with a short aortic neck had to be converted to conventional surgical incision, the remaining 17 patients were successfully treated with the limited incision (range, 6 -10cm). Operative time and intraoperative blood loss were 275.2}62.9 min and 968.5}473.8 ml, respectively. None of these patients required homologous blood transfusion in the perioperative period. All patients were extubated in the operation room. Oral feeding and mobilization started on day 1.6}0.5 and 1.4}0.9, respectively. Furthermore, all patients were discharged home without serious complications such as postoperative ileus and perioperative death. These results show that the limited incision through a retroperitoneal approach is safe and effective in the abdominal aortic surgery. This technique maintains quality outcome while reducing surgical invasion.
@Jpn. J. Cardiovasc. Surg. 32: 325 -328 (2003)