Strategy for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair in Patients with Ischemic Heart Disease

Strategy for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair in Patients with Ischemic Heart Disease

(Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Itabashi Chuo Medical Center, Tokyo, Japan and Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Jichi Omiya Medical Center*, Saitama, Japan)

Atsushi Yamaguchi Ken-ichiro Noguchi Hideo Adachi*

Koji Kawahito* Sei-ichiro Murata* Takashi Ino*

Abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) are frequently associated with clinically significant coexistent ischemic heart disease (IHD). Cardiac events are the most common cause of death after AAA repair. Preoperative coronary evaluation and revascularization have been recommended to reduce postoperative cardiac complications following AAA repair. In this study, we retrospectively reviewed all patients who underwent AAA repair and compared operative results in patients with and without IHD. Of 388 patients who underwent elective AAA repair, 382 (98.5%) had aortography and coronary angiography for preoperative evaluation. Significant coronary artery disease was seen in 124 patients (32.5%). As a result of the evaluation, 46 patients (12.0%）were considered candidates for medical therapy, 18 for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), and 60 for coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). In 24 patients (6.3%) who needed CABG and had large sized AAAs (＞60mm), simultaneous CABG and AAA repair were performed. In the remaining 36 patients (9.4%) who needed CABG and had medium sized AAAs (40mm＜, ＜60mm), staged operation was performed. We performed retrospective review comparing postoperative cardiac events and operative mortality among these treatment groups. There were 5 operative deaths (5/388, 1.3%) in patients following AAA repair. There were 2 operative deaths (2/124, 1.6%) in patients with significant IHD and 3 deaths (3/258, 1.2%) without IHD. In patients with IHD, 1 patient who received medical therapy died of acute renal failure and another one who received PCI died of acute myocardial infarction. There were no operative deaths or cardiac-related events in patients who received CABG before or concomitant AAA repair. There was only 1 cardiac-related event in all patient groups following AAA repair. Coronary arteries were preoperatively evaluated in almost all patients with AAA. If IHD was significant, the treatment for the IHD preceded AAA repair. Our strategy succeeded in reducing operative mortality and cardiac-related events in patients with both AAA and IHD. If a patient with a large sized AAA (＞60mm) needs CABG, one-stage operation is recommended.
　Jpn. J. Cardiovasc. Surg. 33: 73-76 (2004)